SUGARCANE

Ethnomedicine or traditional systems of medicines have suggested means to increase the body’s natural resistance to microbial infections. A number of medicinal plants have been reported to possess antimicrobial activities. This study aimed at determining phytochemical constituents, proximate composition, and the antibacterial activity of aqueous extract of Costus afer (Monkey Sugarcane) on clinical isolates such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The plant samples were collected from a farmyard in Ughelli, Delta State. Samples were air dried for ethanol and aqueous extraction, using standard method. The antibacterial activities of the ethanol and aqueous extract of Escherichia coli,Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, were determined by the disc diffusion method. The result of this study revealed the presence of phytochemical constituents including; flavonoids (2.69 ± 1.53), saponins (4.86 ± 0.23), alkaloids (1.93 ± 0.11), tannins (88.96 ± 5.77) and phenols (59.70 ± 3.29). Proximate analysis revealed the moisture content 22.4%, ash content was 11.2%, crude fibre content was 3.9%, crude protein content was 8.0%, crude fat content was 0.7%, while carbohydrate content accounted for 53.8% of its total composition. The study investigated the determination of Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC), and the identification of bacterial isolates, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The antibacterial activity of aqueous extract of Costus afer on clinical isolates such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed that the organism was not sensitive to the aqueous extract. The bacterial isolates showed greater resistance to commercially available antibiotics against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the susceptibility test. Antioxidant assays such as the DPPH radical scavenging activity, Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP), and Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC) were conducted to assess the extract’s free radical scavenging ability.