Phytochemical analysis, antibacterial and antibiogram activities of fruits peels against human pathogenic bacteria

Fruits are great sources of phytochemical compounds and multiple essential nutrients. Fruit peels can be exploited to reduce agro-waste as natural bioactive compound owning to the antimicrobial properties. The present work envisaged to explore the phytochemical compounds in aqueous and ethanol extracts of three fruit peels from pomegranate (Punica granatum), banana (Musa acuminata) and orange (Citrus reticulata). Additionally, it was aimed to ascertain the antibacterial activities of fruit peel extracts against six human bacterial pathogens; Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Micrococcus luteus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus. Assessment of phytochemical properties of pomegranate, banana, and orange peels revealed that these peels were rich in many bioactive compounds especially alkaloid, flavonoid, phlobatannins, saponins, terpenoids, glycosides, anthocyanosides, steroids, phenols, proteins, and carbohydrates. The antibiogram analysis was performed using four different antibiotics including cepharadin, ceftriaxone, pipemidic acid, and ofloxacin. Antimicrobial profiling indicated that the studied microorganisms were resistant to cepharadin and ceftriaxone, but susceptible to pipemidic acid and ofloxacin. S. aureus was found to be resistant against all applied antibiotics. On the other hand, ethanol extracts of pomegranate peels showed maximum inhibitory activities (29.66 ± 1.63 mm) against M. luteus, banana peels (27.00 ± 0.33 mm) against M. luteus, and orange peels (29.00 ± 0.57 mm) against K. pneumonia. Collectively, similar to the whole fruit, the fruit peels are carrier of crucial nutrients and can be exploited for the production of novel and natural therapeutics to substitute the synthetic drugs and leveraging the development of potent novel antibiotics.