Phytochemical and antimicrobial investigations on various parts of Sida acuta Burm. f.
Sida acuta Burm. f. belongs to the mallow family, Malvaceae. The study investigated the quantitative phytochemical contents and in vitro antimicrobial activities of S. acuta at different concentrations using standard techniques. Antimicrobial activity was evaluated by disc diffusion method and Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations for the absolute concentrations were determined by Agar well diffusion method. Test of significance was measured using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test. There were presence of alkaloid, flavonoid, saponin, tannin, cardiac glycosides, terpenoid, anthraquinone and steroid in the leaf, stem and root of the plant at varying levels. Alkaloid at 2.31±0.03mg/100g was the highest and it was detected in the leaf. All the plant parts exhibited inhibitory activities against all the test organisms but were dose-dependent. At 500 mg/ml, the leaf extract gave highest inhibition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Micrococcus varians, Candida albicans while the root extract gave highest inhibition of Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi and Aspergillus flavus. Findings of this study, therefore, showed that all parts of S. acuta, particularly the leaf and the root, possessed antimicrobial properties which can be pharmaceutically harnessed.