Extraction and biological activity of extract from acacia powder

Nowadays, overuse of antibiotic in controlling pathogenic microorganisms has caused most of the commercial antibiotics were no longer effectively in controlling diseases. Hence, acacia powder was used to study as new antimicrobial to overcome the issue. The powder was extract by using soxhlet extraction method with different solvents (methanol, ethanol, acetone, dichloromethane and petroleum ether). Preliminary antimicrobial properties screening test of acacia powder extracts were conducted and observed. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of each extract was determined using spectrophotometer (600 nm) and later compare with 0.5 McFarland. The half maximal inhibitory (IC50) of extracts were determined as well from the data obtained in MIC test previously. The results in screening test showed that methanol extracts had inhibition zone against E. coli, S. aureus and B. subtilis while ethanol extracts only showed inhibition zone against E. coli and S. aureus. The other solvent extracts do not showed any inhibition zone in all samples. The MIC of both methanol and ethanol are at 100 mg/ml and the IC50 of methanol extract were44.36 mg/ml, 34.67 mg/ml and 35.97 mg/ml against E. coli, S. aureus and B. subtilis respectively. For ethanol extracts, ICcO are 47.64 mg/ml and 44.67 mg/ml in against E. coil and S. aureus respectively. Hence, methanol is the best solvent for acacia powder extraction which showed the most number of inhibitions to microorganisms tested in this study arid have lower IC50 values compare to ethanol extracts.