Phytochemical antimicrobial and proximate analysis of the leaves of Mirabilis jalapa from Uvwie Delta, Delta State

Abstract

The leave extracts of Mirabilis jalapa collected from Uvwie local government were subjected to phytochemical screening, result show that the plant under study contains saponin, flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, resins and phenols. Proximate analysis was carried out to determine ash content, crude protein, crude fibre, moisture content, lipid and nitrogen free extract. The result revealed the presence of high moisture content of 30% and a low Lipid content of 3%.The rest were obtained as follow; ash content 20%, protein content 12.8%, fibre content 8.22% and nitrogen 25.98%. Antimicrobial activity of Mirabilis jalapa leaf was tested on bacterial isolates from the standard laboratory. Bacterial isolates include Bacillus species, Pseudomonas, Micrococcus and E. coli. Five different concentrations (0.1, 0.2, 0.05, 0.025 and 0.012 (mg/ml)) of both the extracting solvents and the extracts were tested on the isolates. The results revealed that Mirabilis Jalapa is a strong antibiotic against E.coli, Bacillus and Pseudomonas but weak against Micrococcus.