Medicinal plants have served as valuable starting materials for drug development in both developing and developed countries. This study investigated the antimicrobial activity and potency of Cymbopogon citratus using ethanol, methanol and N-Hexane as extraction solvents. The standard organisms for the research study were Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pyogenes, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, were obtained from stock cultures in the Departmental Microbiology Laboratory of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The phytochemical screening (qualitative) revealed the presence of Saponins, Tannin, alkaloids, phenolics, glycosides and absence of Steroids, while the results of GC- FID analysis (quantitative) revealed high concentration of spartein (22.9010 µg/ml) and Cyanogenic glycoside (22.4972ppm) for N-Hexane extract, flavanzol (21.1844ppm), ribalinidine (42.0783µg/ml), cyanogenic glycoside (22.8784ppm), phytate (25.6937µg/ml), epihedrine (18.0922 µg/ml), naringin (18.1835 µg/ml) for ethanolic extract, naringin (17.9012µg/ml), flavanzol (21.1923ppm), ribalinidine (25.1726µg/ml), cyanogenic glycoside (16.9569ppm), flavonones (16.3116ppm), Steroids (17.2251ppm), phytate (19.2509µg/ml), epihedrine (13.1275 µg/ml) for methanolic extract. Agar Well diffusion technique was used for the antimicrobial activity studies which revealed 9.0mm (Staphylococcus aureus) at 250 mg/ml and 16.4mm (Escherichia coli) at 250 mg/ml concentration as the highest zone of inhibition for ethanolic extract with E. coli and Cryptococcus neoformans exhibiting the highest and the lowest zone of inhibition respectively at 200 mg/ml of ethanolic extract. The results showed that ethanolic extract exhibited the highest antimicrobial activity with MIC value of 50 mg/ml on all the test organisms. Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae were the most susceptible organisms showing sensitivity with MBC value of 250 mg/ml of the ethanolic extract and Cryptococcus neoformans for methanolic extract. Hence, the high level of antibacterial efficacy exhibited by Cymbopogon citratus reaffirms its prospective use in the management of infections and also as a potential source of antimicrobial agents. It can be concluded that despite the inhibitory effects of concentrations of ethanolic extracts of this plants on the growth of pathogenic bacteria especially Gram-positive, to introduce it as an alternative to chemical antimicrobial drugs, further investigation is required.
N-Hexane, Ethanolic, Methenolic, Potency, Cymbopogon Citrus.
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