Abstract

Medicinal plants have posed as natural resources of compounds with pharmacological and nutritional properties aiding humans to prevent and treat diseases. Among several plants evaluated in bio-prospective studies, Moringa oleifera is known to have many names based on its many uses: clarifier tree, horseradish tree, and drumstick tree (referring to the large drumstick-shaped pods) and in East Africa, Moringa is known as mother’s best friend. This study aimed to determine the bacterial isolates and phytochemical components in Moringa oleifera seeds and leaves. The results showed three probable bacterial isolates, which include, Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, and Klebsiella pneumoniae respectively. The bacteria metabolizes some sugars such as glucose, sucrose, lactose, and maltose which could impact the nutritional value of the leaves and seeds when consumed. Through gram staining, it was confirmed that the three isolates are gram-negative organisms as they appear rod-shaped and turned pink. The phytochemical analysis showed that saponins, tannins, flavonoids, glycosides, alkaloids, phenolics, terpenoids, etc are present in both the leaves and seeds. Moringa leaves and seeds contain high amounts of these phytochemical components which are medicinally important because of their antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-hypertensive, hypoglycemic, and hyperglycemic activity. The seeds and leaves can be used as a food supplement to increase the nutritional composition of food lacking protein, carbohydrates, and lipids by including them in diets to add to human’s daily nutritional needs