Abstract:
The over increasing antibiotic resistance of pathogens has driven a global initiative towards
the search for new sources of antimicrobial substances mainly from medicinal plants. Based
on the existing traditional claim, this study investigated the antimicrobial activities and
phytochemical composition of crude extracts of Aloe pirottae and Aloe mcloughlinii.
Antibacterial activities of the extracts was conducted on test organisms using the disc diffusion
method. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of the plant extracts against the test
pathogens were assessed using the broth dilution method. The antibiotics Ciprofloxacin and
Ketoconazole were used as positive controls for bacterial and fungal pathogens, respectively.
The bioassay of the crude extracts was undertaken at three different concentrations
(100mg/ml, 125mg/ml and 150 mg/ml). The results revealed that the ethanol extracts of the
leaf exudates of Aloe pirottae and Aloe mcloughlinii showed antimicrobial activities against
all bacterial and fungal test organisms. The ethanol extracts of Aloe pirottae and Aloe
mcloughlinii exudates showed inhibitory effects at a concentration of 150 mg/ml with zones of
inhibition ranging from12.5 -16.5mm and 13-17.8mm, respectively. The lowest and highest
zones of inhibitions were observed against Aspergillus niger and Staphylococcus aureus
respectively. The inhibitory activities of the crude extracts were significantly different at
(p<0.05).Qualitative analysis of phytochemical composition of the crude extracts revealed theconclusion, this study showed the antimicrobial activities and the phytochemical composition
of Aloe pirottae and Aloe mcloughlinii leaf exudates.
presence of alkaloid, flavonoid, saponins, steroid, tannin and terpenoids in both plants. In
