Phytochemical screening and in vitro antibacterial activity of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Ficus sycomorus L. stem bark were investigated. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, reducing sugar, glycosides, steroids, flavonoids, saponins and tannins. Salmonella typhi and Escherichia coli were used to investigate the antibacterial activity of the plant extract using disc diffusion. The extracts inhibited the growth of all the tested bacteria at different concentrations. Ethanolic extract exhibited higher antibacterial activity (with inhibition zones of 25.6±0.33 mm and 20.5±0.26 mm against S. typhi and E. coli, respectively) than the aqueous extract (with inhibition zones of 20.0±0.33 mm and 18.4±0.59 mm against S. typhi and E. coli, respectively) at 100 mg/ml concentration. The minimum inhibitory concentration of the F. sycomorus stem bark aqueous and ethanolic extracts on S. typhi and E. coli were in the range of 12.5-6.25 mg/ml and 6.25-1.56 mg/ml, respectively. Minimum bactericidal concentration ranged from 3.12-25.0 mg/ml on the tested bacteria. The results showed that the plant extracts have potent antimicrobial activity on the tested bacteria which supports its use in herbal medicine and could be used to synthesize a novel antimicrobial agent for the treatment of diarrhea, dysentery and typhoid fever.
Key words: Key words: Antibacterial activity, Ficus sycomorus L., Stem bark, In vitro, Phytochemical
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