ABSTRACT
Cyperus esculentus (Tiger nut)is a tuber known under various names such as: nut grass, earth or ground almond, yellow nut and edible galingale. It is commonly used as a healthy food for humans and animals in some parts of the world like Africa, Europe and America. Tigernut is used for some medicinal and health purposes in Nigeria, It also has some antimicrobial activities. This study investigated the antibacterial activities of tiger nut ethanol extract on Klebsiella and Shigella sp using standard methods. The sample was bought from New Benin Market, Oredo Local Government area Benin City, Edo State. The samples were processed by washing, air-drying, grinding and stored for phytochemical analysis and antibacterial activity. The phytochemical activities was done using standard methods. The bacterial isolates of Klebsiella and Shigella were obtained from University of Benin teaching hospital microbiology lab and was identified using standard cultural, morphological, biochemical and sugar fermentation test. The antibacterial activity was carried out using disc diffusion method. Results showed the presence of Terpenoids, Flavonoids, Tannins, Saponins, Steroids, Alkaloids, Aithraquinones as phytochemical constituents. However, there was no tannin detected. The antibacterial activity showed that Klebsiella and Shigella were resistant to the ethanol extract of tigernut at various concentrations (100mg/ml, 50mg/ml, 25mg/ml, 12.5mg/ml, 6.25mg/ml). The antibiotic sensitivity test revealed that both isolates found in this study (Shigella sp and Klebsiella sp) were all susceptible to Gentamicin and Ciprofloxacin but on the other hand were resistant to metronidazole, Colistin, erythromycin, clindamycin and tetracyclin. Therefore, the study further confirmed that tigernut extract does not have any antibacterial activity against Klebsiella and Shigella sp.
