Phytochemicals, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial activities of Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.

Ziziphus mauritiana Lam. belongs to the family Rhamnaceae and is commonly known as “Indian jujube”. The present study aimed at the screening, evaluation of phytochemicals and a comparison of antioxidant, antimicrobial activities of fruit extract of Z.mauritiana in raw and preserved form. Qualitative phytochemical analysis suggested the presence of different phytoconstituents. In DPPH assay the raw and preserved fruits exhibit highest percentage of inhibition at 2000μg/ml. It was suggested that the preserved fruit possess better antioxidant potential than raw fruit samples. In FRAP test, the methanolic extract of preserved fruit showed increased ferric reducing power than raw fruit sample for all the concentration. The raw fruit extract has no activity against E.coli at different concentrations. But it shows activity against S.aureus at the concentrations of 500 and 1000μg/ml. The fungal strain A.niger also indicated sensitivity at concentrations 500 and 1000μg/ml and it was observed that there is no activity against C.albicans. The preserved fruit sample of Z.mauritiana do not have any activity against the two bacterial and fungal strains. Both the standards have zone of inhibition higher than the fruits samples. The methanolic extract of both raw and preserved fruit samples indicated mild antibacterial activity and moderate antioxidant potential.