Antibacterial Activity of Ethanolic Leaves Extract of Andographis paniculata on Isolates of Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli from Locally Processed Beverages in Umueze Nkanu West Local Government Area Enugu State Nigeria

The microbial contamination of locally processed beverages has been familiar among microbiological researchers who have repeatedly implicated them as the major cause of endemics due to poor processing. However, due to antimicrobial resistance and the need to discover new antimicrobial plants, Antibacterial activity of ethanolic leaf extracts of Andographis paniculata against isolates of Salmonella spp. and Esherichia coli from zobo and soya milk was studied. Andographis paniculata leaves were collected randomly from a local farm in Emene Enugu East L.G.A Enugu State. The leaves samples were identified morphologically, washed, air dried at room temperature and milled into powder. 39.7 g of the powder was macerated with ethanol during the extraction process. Phytochemical analysis was carried out on the extract and result showed that Saponins, Tanins, Flavanoids, Phenols, Steriods were present with Flavanoids and Saponins being in higher concentration, while Terpernoids, Alkaloids and Glycosides were absent. The zobo and soya milk samples were diluted using 10-fold serial dilution method and introduced into the already prepared MacConkey and Salmonella Shigella Agar for incubation. Isolates from zobo and soya milk were characterized, biochemically and morphologically and were identified as E. coli and Salmonella spp. Antibacterial activity of ethanolic leaf extracts of A. paniculata against E. coli and Salmonella spp. was determined using agar well diffusion method, and result showed that there was no antibacterial activity of ethanolic leaf extracts of A. paniculata against E. coli and Salmonella spp. However, absence of Terpernoids, Alkaloids and Glycosides exhibited non-comparable activity with the positive control (ciprofloxacin).