ABSTRACT
In order to assess the antibacterial activities of methanolic and aqueous leaf extracts (MLE and ALE) as well as that of methanolic berry extract (MBE) of Lantana camara Linn, we screened each for antibacterial effects against 14 bacterial isolates using agar-well diffusion method at concentration of 25mg/ml with streptomycin as control antibacterial. Data obtained were analyzed with ANOVA and t-test using SPSS 15.0 for Windows. The MLE is comparable to streptomycin in antibacterial activity as they both showed antibacterial activity against 13 (92.86%) bacterial isolates with inhibition zone diameter (IZD) of 12mm-20mm. The ALE and MBE however, showed inhibitory activities against 3 (21.43%, IZD 10mm- 11mm) and 7 (42.86%, IZD 11mm-17mm) bacterial isolates respectively. Flavonoids, saponin and alkaloids were present in the three extracts while phlobatannin, cardiac glycoside and steroid were absent. Terpenoids and tannin were only present in the MBE and MLE respectively. Sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and zinc were observed in the leaf and berry of Lantana camara. Iron, copper and manganese were present in trace amount with lead (Pb) totally absent. Though the three extracts showed antibacterial effects against the isolates, the MLE was the most effective. The phytochemical analysis revealed that Lantana camara has compounds with antibacterial activities and can possibly be used as alternative therapy to infections caused by the sensitive study bacteria.