Abstract

This study investigated thee antibacterial activities of crude and ethanolic extracts of Capsicum frutescens var. minima fruit against some bacterial pathogens (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aerugionsa). The pepper was shade dried, blended to powder, and extracted using water and ethanol. Zone of inhibition assessment was carried out using agar well diffusion method. The zone of inhibition for E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was 14.33 mm, 14.33 mm, 12.00mm and 14.00 mm, respectively for the ethanolic extract, and 11.67mm, 11.33mm, 10.33mm and 12.00 mm, respectively for crude extract. Analysis of variance showed that there was no significantly different (p>0.05) among the various bacterium under study for the crude extract and ethanolic extracts. t-test showed no significant variation (p>0.05) between crude and ethanolic extracts for each of the isolates except for E. coli that showed significant difference at p<0.05. The zone of inhibition in both crude and ethanolic extracts of Capsicum frutescens var. minima suggests that they are potential broad spectrum antibiotics development. 

Keywords

capsicum frutescens var. minima, ethanol, medicinal plants, microbial pathogens, water, cymbopogon citrates, ocimum gratissimum, aframomum melegueta, myristica fragrans, piper nigrum, solanaceae, propionic, succinic, formic, butyric citric, lactic, malic