Assessing the activity of Nakitembe and Kayinja banana cultivars in Uganda against Escherichia Coli
Abstract
Two local banana (Musa spp., AAA-EA) cultivars of Uganda, Nakitembe and Kayinja, were used in this study to investigate the antibacterial activity of their corms. Escherichia coli was tested against. Not much research has been done to investigate the antibacterial activity of banana corms, especially in Uganda where the crop is a major staple food. The ethanolic extracts of the corms of the two cultivars were obtained and the Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations and diameters of the zones of inhibition measured. It was observed that both cultivars have some antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, however, the Kayinja cultivar had better antibacterial activity demonstrated by the relatively wide zone of inhibition and a low Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (50×10-5) as compared to the Nakitembe cultivar whose diameter of zone of inhibition was smaller and the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration was relatively higher (50×10-3). The difference in the diameters of zones of inhibition between the two cultivars was significantly different (P= 0.003). basing on these findings, if an antibacterial drug was to be prospected and obtained from Nakitembe, it would be more prone to antibacterial resistance by Escherichia coli than one obtained from Kayinja.