Preliminary Screening of Phytochemicals and Antibacterial Activity of Medicinal Plant Ber (<i>Ziziphus mauritiana</i> Lamark)

The most important genus in the Rhamnaceae family is Ber (Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk). Phytochemicals present in Ziziphus have antioxidant as well as antimicrobial properties. The present study aimed to detect various phytochemicals and evaluate the antibacterial activity in the Z. mauritiana leaf extracts. Leaves from 14 cultivars/germplasm/varieties of Z. mauritiana were used to explore the presence of various phytoconstituents such as alkaloids, flavonoids, cardiac glycosides, phenols, saponins, protein, steroids, tannins, lignins, and reducing sugar. These phytoconstituents have antioxidant, antibacterial, and hepatoprotective activities. The preliminary antimicrobial activity screening of Ziziphus leaf extract against bacterial strains-Bacillus subtilis (Gram-positive), Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive), Salmonella abony (Gram-negative), E. coli DH5α (Gram-negative) were performed by using well diffusion method. The results of various phytochemicals like alkaloids, phenolics, flavonoids, tannins, carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and amino acids were reported in all selected commercial varieties/cultivars/ germplasm. On the other hand, saponins were found completely absent in methanolic solvents of all varieties/cultivars. The aqueous and methanolic solvent leaf extract were tested for antibacterial activity at different concentrations (25mg/ml, 50mg/ml, and 100mg/ml) against the bacterial strains of B. subtilis, S. aureus, S. abony, and E. coli DH5α, respectively. This study showed that the phytochemicals extracted from Z. mauritiana leaves have potential antimicrobial activities.