Comparative antimicrobial activities of ethanolic extracts of leaves, seed and stem bark of Mangifera indica (Mango)

Abstract

In traditional medicinal systems, different parts of the same plant may show therapeutic activities against a specific condition, but with different potencies. It is against this background that the current study seeks to compare the antimicrobial activities of different morphological parts of mango plant. Using the agar-well diffusion, and the broth dilution methods the antimicrobial activities of ethanolic extracts of the stem bark, leaf and seed of mango were investigated against some microbes. From the study, the seed extract exhibited the greatest antimicrobial activity of average diameters of zones of inhibition in the range of 14–19 mm for a 10mg/ml concentration, and 12–16 mm for a 5mg/ml. The bark and leaf extracts gave a range of 8–12 mm at the stated concentrations. The best minimum inhibitory concentration was against S. aureus and it was of 125µg/ml of the seed extract. The study has shown that the bark, leaf and seed extracts each of mango has antimicrobial activity, and that the seed has the most potent activity among the three morphological parts of the plant.