ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY IN ACTINIDIA-CHINENSIS, FEIJOA-SELLOWIANA AND ABERIA-CAFFRA

The antibacterial activity of extracts from various parts of plants (l eaves, fruits and stems) was studied in Actinidia chinensis, Feijoa se llowiana and Aberia caffra. These are tropical plants used for food, T he fruits (subdivided into skin, pulp and seeds), leaves and stems wer e separately extracted and tested, in triplicate, against eight Gram p ositive and Gram negative bacterial strains. All the extracts, except from the leaves of A. caffra, showed activity against all the strains employed. Inhibition of bacterial growth was tested against Na-cefotax ime, benzyl penicillin and tetracycline. The antibiotic activity of fr uit resides essentially in the seeds. The antibacterial activity of ex tracts from vegetative plant parts was generally less active that from fruit extracts. The minimum inhibiting concentration (MIG) and minimu m bactericidal concentration (MBC) were determined for all the extract s and showed exclusively bacteriostatic activity. (C) 1997 Elsevier Sc ience B.V.