ABSTRACT

The antimicrobial activities of ethanol and aqueous extracts of Abrus precatorius were tested at different concentration against S. aureus, E. coli and C. albicans. The Agar diffusion ·method was used for the study. Ethanol, cold water and hot water extracts showed inhibition on the three test organisms. The ethanol extracts produced greater inhibitory effect on the isolates than the hot water and cold water extracts. The ethanol extract of Abrus precatorius inhibited the growth of S. aureus, E. coll and C. albicans with inhibition zone diameter between 7.80mm- 17 .50mrn. The hot water extract of Abrus precatorius inhibited the growth of S. aureus, E. coli and C. albicans with inhibition zone diameter between 4.37mm13.61mm. The cold water extract of Abrus precatorius inhibited the growth of S. aureus, E. coli and C. albicans with inhibition zone diameter between 3.90mm- 12.94mm. The ethanol extract had minimum inhibitory concentrations of 12.5mg/ml, 25mg/ml and 12.Smg/ml on S. aurues, E. coli and C. albicans respectively. The hot water extract had minimum inhibitory concentrations of 50mg/ml, 50mg/ml and 25 mg/ ml on S. aureus, E. coli and C. albicans respectively while cold water extract produced 100mg/ml, 100mg/ml and 50mg/ml respectively on the isolates. This revealed that Abrus precatorius have antimicrobial activity on the isolates and could be used to control infection associated with these organisms.