Antimicrobial Property of Morinda citrifolia leaf extracts

Morinda citrifolia is an important medicinal plant species in Rubiaceae family. It is known as 'mengkudu' among the locals. This medicinal plant is widely naturalized and cultivated throughout the tropics. The aims of this research were to extract the M citrifolia leaf using different solvents (methanol, ethanol and ethyl acetate) by maceration extraction method, followed by the evaluation of antimicrobial property of the leaf extracts against four selected bacteria, consist of two gram negative bacteria and two gram positive bacteria, which were Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes. Disc diffusion method using Mueller-Hinton agar as the growth medium for the test bacteria was conducted. Each extracts of different concentrations (25 mg/mL, 50 mg/mL and 75 mg/mL) were pipetted onto 6 mm disc. The results of antimicrobial assay revealed that the leaf extracts showed inhibitory activity against all the tested bacteria. Methanol extracts possessed higher antimicrobial activity than ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts. Further research are needed so that the inconsistency of the results obtained can be reduced and to improve on the evaluation ofthe potential of M citrifolia as antimicrobial agent