Infectious diseases remain a major threat to global health, responsible for millions of deaths every year, and the disturbing rise of antimicrobial resistance is quickly diminishing the effectiveness of traditional antibiotics and posing an urgent challenge to modern medicine. Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera), is one of the oldest cultivated plants with high cultural and medicinal value in the Arab world, among the oldest cultivated plants. The present study was carried out to evaluate the phytochemical constituents and antimicrobial activity of the aqueous and methanolic leaf extracts of P. dactylifera. Phytochemical screening showed the presence of significant bioactive compounds like flavonoids, glycosides, phenols, saponins, tannins, terpenoids and steroids. The antibacterial potential of the extracts was determined by agar well diffusion method against four common strains of bacteria, Ciprofloxacin was used as standard control. Among the tested samples, the methanolic leaf extract demonstrated the strongest antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, producing a zone of inhibition of 33 ± 0.2 mm. Lower inhibition zones were observed against Staphylococcus aureus (25.0 ± 0.2 mm) and Escherichia coli (24.0 ± 0.5 mm). The aqueous extract also exhibited notable antibacterial activity, particularly against S. aureus, with a zone of inhibition of 13 ± 0.3 mm. Phytochemical analysis of the methanolic extract confirmed the presence of flavonoids, glycosides, phenols, tannins, steroids, and saponins. Overall, the findings demonstrate the promising antimicrobial potential of both aqueous and methanolic extracts of P. dactylifera leaves against E. coli, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, and Bacillus subtilis. The present study reveals the therapeutic potential of the date palm leaves as a natural source of anti-bacterial agents and their possible use in the development of value-added pharmaceutical products including the treatment of complex diseases like cancer.
Dr. Vibha Bhardwaj* (Mon,) studied this question.