Phytochemical and antimicrobial activities of leaf extract of Guava (Psidium guajava L.)

Abstract

Medicines and products that are produced from natural sources have been gaining a lot of attention. Various fruits and their extracts have been found to exhibit antimicrobial activity. Guava (Psidium guajava L.) is believed to have active components that help in treating various diseases and has been used in folk medicine. In this study, the phytochemical analysis of the aqueous and methanolic extracts of guava leaves was carried out which showed the presence of flavonoids, saponins, phenols, glycosides and terpenoids. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of the leaf extracts was checked towards Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial isolates and was found to lie in the range of 30 to 60 mg/ml. The leaf extracts were used for determining their antimicrobial activity on S. aureus and E. coli using agar well diffusion assay method. Future experiments have to be conducted to evaluate the effects of guava leaves on other bacterial isolates.