Antimicrobial and Antifungal Activity of Three Selected Homegrown Vegetables Consumed in Rwanda

Abstract

This particular study is focused to the employment of herbal medicine due to the economical stringency of rural-based communities’ resort of traditional medicine such as using Moringa oleifera, Solanum nigrum and Cleome gynandra as alternative drug sources to treat microbial infections without scientific knowledge about them. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the antibacterial activity of Moringa oleifera, Solanum nigrum and Cleome gynandra extracts with their extracted herbal juice. The aqueous solution of methanol, hexane and ethyl acetate extracts of Moringa oleifera, Solanum nigrum and Cleome gynandra leaves can be used for antimicrobial activity of such medicinal substitutes antibiotics like erythromycin, chloramphenicol, minocycline, and ketoconazole used as controls. The extracts (0.2 mg/ml) concentrations revealed varied antimicrobial activity against Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aerugenosa bacteria as well as Sacharomyces cervisiae yeast and Aspergillus fusarium mold with respect to the inhibition diameters observed and measured on the agar. The maximal antibacterial activity of Moringa oleifera was observed against Staphylococcus aureus with fresh leaf aqueous extract (26.0 mm); Solanum nigrum against Escherichia coli with hexane extracts (22.0 mm), whereas the maximal antibacterial activity of Cleome gynandra was seen against Salmonella typhi with methanol extracts (19.0 mm). All the extracts from the three vegetables showed a higher antibacterial activity than the control except for Pseudomonas aerugenosa. The maximal antifungal activity of Moringa oleifera and Solanum nigrum was seen against Sacharomyces cervisiae with fresh leaf aqueous extracts (22.0 mm) while the maximal antifungal activity of Cleome gynandra was seen against Sacharomyces cervisiae with methanol extracts (21.0 mm).