In vitro assay demonstrates broad antibacterial and selective antifungal activity of Hibiscus sabdariffa flower extracts, suggesting potential as plant-derived antimicrobial agents.
Key Points
To determine the phytochemical composition and evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of Hibiscus sabdariffa flower extracts against selected bacterial and fungal organisms.
Extracted phytochemicals from Hibiscus sabdariffa flowers using aqueous and ethanol solvents.
Evaluated antimicrobial susceptibility using agar well diffusion assays and quantified minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC).
Ethanol and aqueous extracts contained high levels of flavonoids, saponins, and oxalates, showing significant antibacterial activity against all tested strains (p < 0.04).
Aqueous extracts demonstrated significant antifungal activity against Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus flavus (p < 0.05), but lacked significant efficacy against Candida albicans and Fusarium species.
Mean bacterial MIC values of the extracts did not differ significantly from control antibiotics (p = 0.382), whereas mean fungal MIC values differed significantly (p = 0.00018).