ANTIMICROBIAL EFFECTS OF THE ETHANOLIC LEAF EXTRACT OF IPOMOEA BATATA ON SOME SELECTED PATHOGENIC BACTERIAL ISOLATES

Ipomoea batata is one of the major staple crops and the most important food security promoting root crops in the world, especially in sub–Saharan Africa. This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of Ipomoea batata whole plant hexane extract on some bacterial isolates. Antimicrobial activity of I. batata was tested on some selected bacterial isolates using standard procedures. The hydroalcohlic leaf extract of Ipomoea batata showed a pronounced antimicrobial activity against all the bacterial isolates tested, the obtained results ranged from (0.50-4.00cm inhibition zone) in the stem extract and (0.70-4.10cm inhibition zone) in the leaf extract where as it had little effect on Streptococcus pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The varying susceptibility of the tested bacteria may be attributed to inherent properties linked to the permeability of their cell surfaces to the plant extracts. In conclusion, the ethanolic extracts from the leaf of Ipomoea batata plant exhibit comparable antimicrobial activity to standard antibiotics, suggesting their potential use as external antiseptics in the prevention and treatment of bacterial infections. The incorporation of these extracts into drug formulations is recommended, further highlighting their promising role in the field of antimicrobial therapy.