Abstract

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Approximately 15,000 to 25,000 bryophyte species are known in the world with moss species being 8000-9000 yet very little is known about the phytochemistry of bryophytes and information concerning research results is very scattered. This study therefore evaluated the phytochemicals and antimicrobial activities of an ectohydric moss plant using standard procedures. Ten principle bioactive compounds were investigated. In all, eight were present in three solvent extracts. These include tannins, steroids, triterpenoids, flavonoids, phenols, cardenolides, terpenoids and balsams.The antibacterial activities of the three different extracts from the moss plant were tested against four bacterial and a yeast isolate by agar well diffusion method. It was observed that chloroform and n-hexane extracts were active on some of the bacteria. In addition, extract of chloroform possessed the highest antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa, E. coli and Candida albican with minimum inhibition concentration of 100 mg/ml, 100 mg/ml and 200 mg/ml respectively. The current study indicates that extracts of moss plant may be exploited for antimicrobial drugs in the future for the treatment of various ailment

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