Abstract:
Sweet Potato Leave (SPL) powder and its peptone, ethanol and
water extracts were subjected to proximate, phytochemical, anti-nutrient and
antimicrobial analysis. The results of proximate analysis revealed the presence
of high carbohydrate (43.971±0.019-56.472±0.009%) and crude protein
(16.497±0.003-28.163±0.003%). The sweet potato leaves powder and
the extracts also contain moisture (3.603±0.004-16.921±0.008%),
ash (5.563±0.004-10.414±0.007%), fat (0.208±0.007-14.264±0.002%)
and fibre (0.244±0.003-2.764±0.003%), respectively. The phytochemical
screening revealed the presence of bioactive compounds in the SPL powder and
its extracts namely; tannins, alkaloids, steroids, glycosides, saponins, flavonoids
and soluble carbohydrates. The SPL powder had the highest content of these bioactive
compounds with alkaloid having the highest value of 3.784±0.007mg/100g,
followed by flavonoid (3.357±0.006mg/100g) and steroid had the lowest
value (0.393±0.003mg/100g). The extracts had highest content of flavonoid
ranging between 2.762±0.008 and 3.355±0.004 mg/100g and least
content of steroid ranging between 0.357±0.002 and 0.375±0.003mg/100g.
The anti-nutrient analysis indicated the content of very high amount of oxalate
ranging between 1.664±0.004 and 6.254±0.004% in the four samples.
They contained lower amounts of phytate (3.897±0.003 to 5.933±0.003mg/100g),
cyanide (0.353±0.003 to 1.444±0.004mg/100g) and tannin (5.527±0.002
to 9.010±0.002mg/100g). The antimicrobial activity of the peptone, water
and ethanol extracts was tested against Escherichia coli, Salmonella
typhi, Staphylococcus aureus, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium
spp., Pseudomonas aeroginosa and Klebsiella pneumonia. The
water extract showed the best antimicrobial activity by inhibiting the growth
of all the organisms except E. coli and Penicillium spp at different
concentrations of the extract. While the ethanol and peptone extracts
only had a minimal activity against Salmonella typhi.
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