A STUDY ON PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND ANTIBACTERIAL POTENTIAL OF POMEGRANATE, PAPAYA AND POTATO PEEL EXTRACT

ABSTRACT
Plants are wealthy sources of antimicrobial agents as they contain a different variety of phytoconstituents. These types of natural drugs are always a better substitute of synthetic drugs. This study investigated the qualitative screening of phytochemicals from pomegranate, papaya, potato peel using polar and non-polar solvent and in vitro antibacterial activity of these peel extracts. The data presented here indicate that the peel of pomegranate was produced effective against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria compared to potato and papaya peel. Gram-negative bacteria were found to be more sensitive towards all extract than the Gram-positive ones. Among the solvents, aqueous polar solvent was found to be more significant than the chloroform non-polar solvent against the test strains. This may be the presence of maximum number of phytochemicals present in aqueous extract. The results predict that the polar solvent extract of these peels can be used as natural antibacterial agent to cure human diseases.