Ethanolic Extract of Prosopis farcta Root: Determination of Total Phenols and Flavonoids, Radical Scavenging Ability and Its Antimicrobial Effect on Some Bacteria Causing Infection and Food Poisoning

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Behrooz Alizadeh Behbahani ¹
• Mostafa Rahmati-Joneidabad ²
• Mohammad Noshad ¹

¹ Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Animal Science and Food Technology, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Mollasani, Iran

² Department of Horticultural Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Mollasani, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22067/ifstrj.2022.76780.1173

Abstract

Introduction
The use of safe ingredients to preserve food is steadily increasing. The high time and cost of production and approval of synthetic food additives and the reduction of public acceptance of these compounds have caused serious problems in their utilization. Excessive use of synthetic preservatives, which some of them are suspected to be toxic, has completely eliminated these additives and led to the use of natural alternatives to preserve or extend the shelf life of food products. Many plant-based bioactive compounds are good alternatives to synthetic antimicrobial and antioxidant supplements. Plant extracts have significant biological activity including antioxidant, antibacterial, and antifungal properties, which has increased their use in food products. In addition, plant-derived antimicrobial compounds have been considered in the pharmaceutical industry to control microbial pathogens. Natural antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds are receiving a lot of research and industrial attention in food preservation technologies. In the last 2 decades, the use of herbal medicines rich in bioactive molecules (including polyphenols, carotenoids and flavonoids) with medicinal and health effects such as delaying the onset of some diseases such as cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, and cancer have increased.
The plant Prosopis farcta grown in arid and semi-arid regions. In Iran, it is found in the southern regions of the country. In traditional medicine, this plant is used to prevent hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia, to treat hemorrhoids, intestinal diseases and diarrhea, and leprosy, and to reduce abortion. In addition, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of various species of Prosopis have been reported. Accordingly, in this study, after examining the of total phenols and flavonoids concentrations, the antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of ethanolic extract of Prosopis farcta were determined.
 
Materials and Methods
The ethanolic extract of P. farcta was obtained maceration method. Total phenol content (by Folin-Ciocalteu reagent method), total flavonoid content (by aluminum chloride method), antioxidant activity (by DPPH and ABTS free radical scavenging and beta-carotene bleaching methods), and antimicrobial effect against Escherichia coli, Shigella dysentery, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus subtilis (by disk diffusion agar, well diffusion agar, minimum inhibitory concentration, and minimum fungicidal concentration) of the extract were evaluated.
 
Results and Discussion

farcta ethanolic extract showed high phenol content (145.58 ± 1.30 mg GAE/g), while its total flavonoid content was 72.37 ± 1.48 mg QE/g. Antioxidant activity of ethanolic extract of melon root using different methods of DPPH and ABTS free radical scavenging and beta-carotene bleaching inhibition were 62.60, 71.82 and 54.50%, respectively. Antibacterial activity of P. farcta ethanolic extract against Escherichia coli, Shigella dysentery, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus subtilis according to disk diffusion agar and well diffusion agar methods showed that the antimicrobial activity of the extract was concentration dependent and Shigella dysentery and Staphylococcus aureus were the most resistant and sensitive bacterial strains to the extract respectively. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of ethanolic extract of P. farcta root for Escherichia coli, Shigella dysentery, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus subtilis were 8, 8, 4 and 4 mg/ml, respectively; while the minimum bactericidal concentrations for these bacteria were 128, 256, 32 and 64 mg/ml, respectively.

 
Conclusion
In the present study, ethanolic extract obtained from the roots of P. farcta was identified as a rich source of phenolic and flavonoid compounds. The ethanolic extract showed effective antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. The results greatly indicated the promising effect of P. farcta root extract against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial species. As the microbial resistance is constantly increasing, ethanolic extract of P. farcta root can be considered as a suitable complementary option to tackle this problem. In addition, the identification of individual components of P. farcta ethanolic extract and their biological functions or their combination with common antioxidant and antimicrobial agents could be the subject of future research.

Keywords

• Antibacterial effect
• Antioxidant activity
• Bioactive extract
• Phenolic compounds
• Prosopis farcta

Main Subjects

• Food Biotechnology

©2023 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source.

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