Antibacterial Activities of Extracts from four Wild Food Fruits

Aims: This study aimed to assess the in vitro antibacterial effects of extracts from four wild food fruits: Balanites aegyptiaca, Saba senegalensis, Ziziphus mauritiana, and Raphia sudanica.

Place and Duration of Study: The samples of plant material were collected at Banamba and Sikasso, Mali between January and May 2018. The bacterial strains were collected at Research Centre for Biological Food and Nutritional Sciences (CRSBAN), University Professor Joseph Ki-Zerbo; Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The experimental parts were also carried out at CRSBAN from October 2019 to January 2020.

Methodology: The fruit extracts were screened for antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, S. aureus, B. cereus, and L. monocytogenes strains. The diameters of the inhibition zones (ID), the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) as well as the minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBC) were evaluated using agar diffusion method.

Results: The findings revealed that these parameters have varied as a function of fruit species and/or their zones of provenances. All fruit extracts showed significant growth reducing effect against all the tested bacteria. The extracts from R. sudanica have exhibited the strongest growth-inhibiting activity specifically against E. coli (ID = 15.33±0.58 mm) and Salmonella typhi (ID = 18.00±1.00 mm) with lower MIC (from 2.08±1.44 to 5.83±1.44 mg/mL). Moreover, the MBC/MIC ratios revealed that the extracts from the studied fruits possess mainly bacteriostatic effects towards the tested strains.

Conclusion: These findings support local therapeutics properties attributed to these fruits. They also demonstrate that, in addition to their nutritional values, these edible fruits could be used for developing antibiotics to treat infectious diseases and food poisoning.