Antimicrobial Activities and Phytochemical Analysis of Ethanolic and Aqueous Leaf Extract of Pawpaw (Carica papaya) Grown in Maiduguri

This study undertaken to determined the phytochemical screening and antimicrobial activity of ethanol and aqueous extract of Pawpaw leaf. A Fresh leaves of Pawpaw were collected from the Department Agricultural Technology, Ramat polytechnic Maiduguri, and allowed to dry under the shed for 10 days. The powdered plant materials were soaked in a conical flask and extracted with ethanol and aqueous. Phytochemical analysis was conducted by using specific standard procedure, Antimicrobial activity assays of all the extracts were performed by agar well diffusion methods and determined by measuring the zones of inhibition with transparent scale. The result of phytochemical screening revealed the presence of Tannin, Saponins, Alkaloids, Flavonoids and Phenol on ethanol extract while the Aqueous leaf extract shows the presence of Saponins, Tannin, Flavonoids, Alkaloids but Phenol was absent. The result of antimicrobial activity showed that E. coli has higher sensitivity of (10.0mm) zone of inhibition followed by Staphylococcus aureus (9.2mm) and Bacillus species has the least sensitivity of (7.5mm) amongst the organism ascertained with zone of inhibition on the ethanol extract and in aqueous extract the E. coli has the higher sensitivity of (8.2mm) zone of inhibition while Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus species has not detected zone of sensitivity amongst the organism ascertained. The study revealed some of acclaimed medicinal importance of Pawpaw (Carica papaya) leaves and can be made available commercially for its medicinal value