PHYTOCHEMICA/ SCREENING AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF BITTER LEAF VERNONIA AMYGDALINA

ABSTRACT Vernonia amygdalina, commonly known as bitter leaf mostly grow wild, though it could be cultivated/ domesticated. It is widely consumed in mostly Central African countries both by humans and animals. This present study was aimed to investigate the phytochemical and antimicrobial activities ethanolic extracts of Vernonia amygdalina (bitter leaf). The antimicrobial activity was carryout on Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Aspergillus Fumigatus and Candida Albican. The phytochemical constituents of this medicinal plant was carried out using standard methods. The antimicrobial assay of the leaves extracts was performed by disc diffusion method. The qualitative and quantitative phytochemical screening of the extract indicated the presence of Alkaloid, terpenoid, flavonoids, steroid, phenol, saponin and tannin, with flavonoid being the most abundant constituent making about 12.2% followed by steroid, alkaloid and phenol constituting 4.8, 4.6 and 3.6% respectively. The result shows that the extracts were active against the microorganisms. The Methanol extract showed higher activity (12.2 mm) against the bacterial isolates