Abstract
ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF EXTRACTS FROM JATROPHA GOSSYPIIFOLIA AND JATROPHA TANJORENSIS

Aqueous and methanol extracts of the seeds, stems and leaves of Jatropha gossypiifolia and Jatropha tanjorensis plants were obtained by cold extraction methods. Six extracts were obtained from each plant and their activities at different concentrations were evaluated against pure cultures of bacteria using agar well diffusion technique. Phytochemical analyses were carried out on the crude plant extracts and revealed the presence of saponins, alkaloids, tannins, cardiac glycosides and flavonoids and absence of phenols and phlobatannins for both plants. The highest zone of inhibition of 17.5mm was observed for J. gossypiifolia at 100mg/ml for Klebsiella pnuemoniae and 17.0mm for J. tanjorensis at 100mg/ml for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The crude stem extract of J. tanjorensis was only active against Escherichia coli while no activity was recorded for the other isolates. The extracts showed activities against bacterial isolates that are causative agents of infections.