Antimicrobial and Antioxidant properties of Petiveria alliacea

The leaf, stem and root decoctions of Petiveria alliacea (referred to as Anamu or Apacin (Guatemala), Guinea–Hen weed (English), Awogba or Ojusaju (Yoruba), kanunfari (Hausa) and Akwa-ose (Igbo) have been used as a diuretic, antispasmodic, sedative, analgesic and anti-inflammatory agents in traditional medicine. Cold maceration and Soxhlet extraction techniques were used to obtain oils from the leaf, stem and root of P. alliacea. The oils were analysed for their antimicrobial properties using brothmicrodilution technique while their antioxidant properties were determined by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) tests.The antimicrobial tests on the following micro-organisms Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli,as well as the anti-fungi test on Rhizopus sp., and Aspergillus niger, showed that the hexane and ethanol cold leaf extracts were most effective in limiting the growth of Salmonella typhi with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC)value of 3.125 μg/mL and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC)value of 6.25 μg/mL. The ethanol leaf extracts using Soxhlet extraction technique were most effective at MIC value of 3.125 μg/mL on Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli. Likewise, the hexane and ethanolcold leaf extracts were most effective in limiting the growth of Rhizopus sp. and Aspergillus niger with MIC value of 3.125 μg/mL and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) value of 6.25 μg/mL