Comparative Phytochemical and Antimicrobial Screening of Methanolic Extracts of Jatropha Curcas L. (igi lapalapa) from Two Ecological Zones

Abstract

Phytochemical analysis and antimicrobial screening of Jatropha curcas were carried out on Forest and Guinea savannah samples. Both quantitative and qualitative phytochemical screening  was carried out on stems, seeds and leaves of Jatropha from Forest and Guinea savannah. Qualitative result revealed the presence of tannin, saponin, alkaloid, total phenol, flavonoid, combines and free anthraquinone in the plant from both zones. Quantitatively, Five (5) constituents were tested (i.e tannin, saponin, alkaloid, flavonoid and total phenol). It was revealed that the concentration of tannin was the highest with a range of 33.38mg/g and 25.21mg/g while the concentration of flavonoid was the lowest with a range of 8.08mg/g and 6.41mg/g in leaf extract of the plant collected from the guinea and forest zones respectively. However in the seed extract of the plant from the guinea and forest zones, it was recorded that alkaloid has highest concentration of 4.57mg/g and 3.77mg/g while saponin has the lowest concentration of 1.5mg/g and 1.22mg/g. 0.79mg/g and 0.86mg/g of total phenol was recorded as the highest concentration range while 0.18mg/g and 0.30mg/g of saponin was recorded as the lowest concentration range in stem extract of the plants from the two ecological zones.  In general it was revealed that the seeds, leaves and stem extracts of the plant from the guinea savanna zone are significantly higher (P < 0.5) in the five constituents than the seed, stem and leaf extracts of the plant from the forest zone. The antimicrobial result revealed that extracts of Jatropha curcas collected from the guinea savanna has bioactive agents that contain antimicrobial properties against Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus feacalis.