Abstract

ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY AND PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING OF CITRUS LIMON L. PEELS

Kutaiba Ibrahim Alzand and Mansor Mostafa Boufaris*

Abstract

To evaluate the antimicrobial activity of the peels of Citrus limon Linn (CL) against some microorganisms - bacteria and fungus were Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas spp, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigates, Mucor spp and Pencillium. 100 μL of 10 mg CL were assessed against eight test microorganisms by agar well Diffusion Method. Gentamicin and Ketoconazole 10 mg/mL were used as standards. A different solvent was used to obtain CL peel extract by using maceration technique. %yield obtained for dried peel extract of CL with chloroform, ethanol, acetone, petroleum ether and aqueous ethanol was approximately 15%, 18%, 09%, 11% and 24% respectively. Due to its high yield value hydroalcoholic extract of CL was used for estimating the antimicrobial activity and its phytochemical screening. Phytochemical screening of CL plant reveals the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, steroids and tannins. The study demonstrates that the hydroalcoholic extract of CL peel exhibit antibacterial activity on Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas sp, Staphylococcus aureus and antifungal activity among Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigates, Mucor species. These recognized a good support to the use of this plant in herbal medicine and as base for the development of new drugs and phytomedicine.

Keywords: Antimicrobial activity, Citrus lemon peels, agar well diffusion method, phytochemical screening, herbal medicine, phytomedicine.