ANTIMICROBIAL AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF DATE PALM FRUIT EXTRACTS (PHOENIX DACTYLIFERA L)

Abstract

Phoenix dactylifera L., also known as date or date palm, a plant flower in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible pleasant fruit. The proximate outcome showed that the date palm fruit has high carbohydrate content (84.6%), followed by crude fibre (8.66%), while the fat content was the lowest (0.21%). The date palm fruit contains high β -Carotene (87.91μg) and lower lycopene (0.006μg). The antimicrobial susceptibility of the test organisms, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Bacillus cereus and Aspergillus niger to extracts of date palm fruit revealed that all the microorganisms were susceptible to the extracts.