Authors:

Abstract

Increasing drug resistance of pathogens and negative consequences of antibiotic usage has led to the search for alternative medicines from nature. Many plants have been exploited to cure infectious diseases from time immemorial. The present investigation evaluated the antimicrobial and phytochemical properties of Arto c arpus he te ro phyllus i. e . Jack fruit (Kos in Sinhala) and Ar to carpus altil is i. e. Bread fruit (Dhel in Sinhala) leaf and stem bark extracts. Hexane, dichloromethane and ethanol were used as extraction solvents and test organisms were Es cher ich ia col i, M icro coccus lu te us, As per g illus nig e r and T richode rma sp. A disc diffusion test was adopted to test the susceptibility of the selected microbes to the extracts while Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined using serial dilution of extracts. Phytochemical screening was carried out by specific chemical identification tests. Bioassay data were statistically analyzed using two-way ANOVA (SPSS 20 at 95% confidence level). Ethanolic stem bark extracts (30mg/ml) of A. he te ro phyllus and A. altil is possessed significant antibacterial activity against Es cherich ia col i with 9.50 ± 0.44 mm and 7.49 ± 0.28 mm inhibition zone radii respectively. Dichloromethane extracts of leaf and stem bark showed lesser antibacterial activity against both of the bacteria with inhibition zones of 3.00 ± 0.34 mm to 5.66 ± 0.16 mm while hexane extracts did not show any antibacterial activity. Antifungal activity on the other hand was not detected in any of the extracts. Bacterial antibiotic tetracycline and fungal antibiotic ketoconazole which were used as positive controls were more effective even at 1/10 concentration compared to all the plant extracts tested. Phytochemical screening confirmed the presence of phytosterols, anthraquinone, terpenoids, phenols, glycosides, flavonoids and diterpenes in both of the trees. These results confirm the potential antibacterial activity of A. he te ro phyllus and A. altilis stem barks and the presence of medicinally important phytochemicals in aerial parts of the plants.

OUSL Journal Vol.9 2015: 1-17

Keywords: Artocarpus heterophyllus, Artocarpus altilis, Antimicrobial, Phytochemical, Plant extracts, ethnomedicinal