Phytochemical Screening and Antimicrobial Property of Cassia arereh

The phytochemical screening of the root and stem bark of Cassia arereh revealed that the root possesses alkaloids, flavonoids, phlobatanins, saponins, steroids and while the stem back possesses alkaloids, anthraquinones, saponins, steroids and tannins. The antimicrobial activity on Shigella spp, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhi were determined at the concentration of 200mg/ml using the disc diffusion technique. The ethanolic extract of the stem back produced the highest antimicrobial effect against E. coli, S. aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa with the zones of inhibition of 13mm respectively and 12mm against S. typhi compared with the other extracts. Equally, the stem back extracts were observed to be more potent against the microbial isolates than the root extracts as E. coli, S. aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were observed to be resistant to stem back extracts. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values were in the range of 12.5mg/ml-200mg/ml concentrations. Analysis of active extracts against the test organisms showed that the activity of the extract was dependent on the solvent used and the type of target bacteria and the difference observed were significant (P<0.05). (Bolaji Oluwatosin Akanbi, Chidi Justin Nnakaogu. Phytochemical Screening and Antimicrobial Property of Cassia arereh. Researcher 2012; 4(12):96-100). (ISSN: 1553-9865). http://www.sciencepub.net/researcher . 17