Background: Alkaloids and flavonoids are secondary metabolites extracted from different medicinal plants.
Tamarix aphylla
a traditionally
valuable medicinal plant; was used for the extraction of alkaloids and flavonoids in order to evaluate their antibacterial activity.
Methodology: The leaves of the plant were collected from district Kohat, Pakistan, and their alkaloids and flavonoids were extracted with ethanol
and methanol, respectively. Four bacteria i.e. Gram positive (
Staphylococcus aureus
) and Gram negative (
Escherichia coli
,
Salmonella typhi
and
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
) were selected for the biological screening of these phyto-constituents.
Results: The concentration of alkaloids was found to be more in the leaves of
Tamarix aphylla than flavonoids. The extracted phytochemicals
showed varied inhibition zones against tested bacterial isolates. Alkaloids showed highest inhibitory activity against
Staphylococcus aureus
(14±0.6 mm) followed by
Pseudomonas aeruginosa (13±0.7 mm). Conversely, flavonoids showed the highest inhibitory affect against
Salmonella typhi (17±0.7 mm) followed by
Staphylococcus aureus(14±0.7 mm). However, both extracts showed the lowest inhibitory effects
against
Escherichia coli.
Conclusions: It was concluded that the alkaloids and flavonoids from
Tamarix aphylla leaves have antimicrobial potential against common
human bacterial pathogens. However, flavonoids were found to be more active phytochemical against tested bacterial strains as compared to
alkaloids.
