Preliminary Evaluation and Antimicrobial Activity of Barringtonia asiatica (L.) Kurz Extracts

Abstract

The study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of the leaves and fruit crude extracts from the Barringtonia asiatica plant against S. aureus and E. coli. The ethanolic extracts contained phenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, and saponins. The leaf extracts exhibited higher antibacterial activity than the fruit extracts and clear inhibitions were mainly observed in the first and second dilutions. Based on the results, there was a significant difference in the antimicrobial activities of the extracts against S. aureus but no significant difference was observed against E. coli. As for the traditional usage of B. asiatica, a personal interview was done by the researcher to the residents of Aplaya, Digos City. It turned out that out of 18 respondents, 55.55% claimed they’ve used the leaves while 38.88% used the seed/fruits and 11.11% utilized the roots as a treatment for ailments including stomach ache, goiter, skin disease, bone fractures, cyst, and hernia. These manifested that B. asiatica has a potential antibacterial agent and demands further investigation to identify underlying mechanisms responsible for bioactivities.