Phytochemicals, Nutritional and Antibacterial Evaluation of a Domestic Plant –Tetradenia riparia

Medicinal plants have been established to be endowed by nature as sources of phytochemicals employed in the treatment and management of various health disorders. Preliminary phytochemical composition and mineral content of Tetradenia riparia leaf was analyzed, using standard procedures. The radical scavenging ability of the methanol extract was determined using the DPPH assay. Flavonoids, phenols and tannins were detected in abundance in the phytochemical analysis. At 500 µg/mL, it had percentage inhibition of 68% when compared with ascorbic acid, the standard reference drug which was 85%. Antibacterial investigation of both the dry and wet leaf extracts in ethanol and water was determined against four pathogenic organisms; Bacillus substilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Streptococcus pneumonia. Amongst the tested extract, wet leaf methanol extract was the most active with inhibitory activity of 20 mm and 22 mm against P. aeruginosa and E. coli, respectively. The results from the study, showed that Tetradenia riparia plant could be useful as a food supplements and as alternative antibacterial remedy