In Vitro Antifungal Activities and Phytochemical Screening of Calpurnia aurea and Verbascum sinaiticum in Toke Kutaye District, West Shewa Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

Degaga K, Girma W and Rebuma T

Published on: 2024-06-11

Abstract

The utilization of medicinal plants has been the pillar of the world's approach to treating illnesses and fighting infectious disease-causing agents including fungi. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate antifungal activities of methanol extracts of leaves and seeds of Calpurnia aurea and leaf of Verbascum sinaiticum against reference fungal species Aspergillus niger, Candida zeylanoides, and Candida tropicalis, and to screen major secondary metabolites of these plants. The plants were collected from the Toke Kutaye district of the West Shewa Zone and subjected to extraction by using maceration techniques. Phytochemical screening was conducted using various protocols. The antifungal activity of the plants was determined by agar disk diffusion technique using the concentration of 200mg/ml, 100mg/ml and 50mg/ml. The minimum inhibitory concentration assay was determined using the concentration of 200mg/ml, 100mg/ml, 50mg/ml, 25mg/ml, 12.5mg/ml, 6.25mg/ml, 3.125mg/ml and 1.56mg/ml by agar dilution method. To carry out the analysis, descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance, and the Tukey test were used. All extracts had shown a significant antifungal activity (p-value<0.05) within the average inhibition zone ranging from 10±0.000 to 20±0.577. Calpurnia aurea seeds were shown strong antifungal activities against Aspergillus niger, Candida zeylanoides, and Candida tropicalis (12.33±0.333 to 20±0.577). Calpurnia aurea leaves were shown the highest inhibition zone against Candida tropicalis and Candida zeylanoides (17.67±0.333 and 20.33± 0.88) respectively. Verbascum sinaiticum was found to be shown an average antifungal activity with zone of inhibition 11.33±0.333 to 17.00±0.57 against all tested pathogens. Calpurnia aurea leaf and seed revealed the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, steroids, flavonoids, and saponins. Verbascum sinaiticum failed to show the presence of saponins. The average minimum inhibitory concentration result obtained was 25mg/ml, 12.5mg/ml, 6.25mg/ml, 3.125mg/ml and 1.56mg/ml. based on the results, it is possible to conclude that Calpurnia aurea seed extract has stronger antifungal activity as compared to Verbascum sanaiticum and Calpurnia aurea leaf. However, further research should be required to understand the mechanisms involved in the antifungal activity.