PHYTOCHEMICAL AND ANTIMICROBIAL SCREENING OF THE STEM BARK EXTRACTS OF PTEROCARPUS ERINACEUS (POIR)

are very rich in and have been used in been utilized in to various In this study, the phytochemical constituents and antimicrobial activities of Pterocarpus Erinaceus were analyzed. The result of the phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of tannins, saponins, and flavonoids. The antimicrobial screening showed that the plant is active against Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter aerogenes, Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli


Plant Collection
The stem bark of PterocarpusErinaceuswas collected and sent to the laboratory for proper identification. The plant preparation and crude extraction werecarried out using the standard procedure described in Adebayo and Ishola (2009).

The phytochemical and antimicrobial screening of the extracts
The powdered stem bark of P. Erinaceus was tested for secondary metabolites such as tannins, anthraquinones, saponins, flavonoids, and phenols using standard methods described by Abioye et al. (2013). Antimicrobial activity was carried out using hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol fractions together with the crude methanol on cupplate method on gram-positive and gram-negative pathogens such asSalmonella typhi, Klebsiella  Result:-500g of the grounded stem bark of P. Erinaceus was successively extractedwith n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol to obtain some reddish-brown, brown, and yellowish solid masses. The bioactive components of the plant are shownin Table 1. While the antimicrobial assay results on the extractsare shown in table 2.
The phytochemical screening performed on the aqueous extract of the plant's stem bark revealed the presence of tannin, saponins, and flavonoids. It was found that phenol was absent contrary to a previous study (e.g., Gabriel & Onigbanjo, 2010). The reason for the absence of phenol is unclear. However, the probable explanation could be attributed to the screening process.

Discussion:-
The study aimed to investigate the phytochemical and antimicrobial basis of the stem bark of Pterocarpus Erinaceus. The analysis showed that P. Erinaceus is rich in bioactive components, including tannins, flavonoids, and saponins. However, the presence of phenol was negative in the plant's extract. Perhaps, the secondary 563 metabolites revealed in the plant have been proven to possess antimicrobial activity (Ajiboye &Olawoyin, 2020; Dakheel et al., 2020; Othman et al. Following the antimicrobial activity screening, hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol indicated varieties of activity. The investigation revealed that hexane and methanol are the most active in the sense that they were found to be active in the isolated organisms. However, Ethyl acetate was found to act in Klebsiella and Enterococcus. Consistent with (Gabriel & Onigbanjo, 2010), the analysis showed that Ethyl acetate exhibits the lowest sensitivity against the organisms. The study provides further evidence that P. Erinaceus exhibit antimicrobial activity against the tested pathogens.

Conclusion:-
The present study's findings support the use of the stem bark extract of Pterocarpus Erinaceus against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter aerogenes, Enterococcus faecalis,andSalmonella typhi. The bioactive constituent of the plant's stem bark has been demonstrated to act against the isolated pathogens. The result contributes to the literature by providing valuable data to the medicinal properties of P. erinaceus.

Funding
The researcher received funding from Tetfund Nigeria