Investigation on the Phytochemicals Present in the Fruit Peel of Carica papaya and Evaluation of its Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Property

Background: Plants have the major advantage of being the most treasured and cheaper alternative supplies for drugs. Phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables have gained increasing interest among consumers and the scientific community as epidemiological studies have indicated that regular consumption of phytochemicals is related to a lower risk of non-communicable diseases.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to carry out qualitative and quantitative phytochemical analysis to establish the different classes of compounds present in the peel of indigenous fruit C. papaya using five different solvents and evaluate its antioxidant and antimicrobial property.

Methods and Material: Evaluate the antioxidant property of Carica papaya peel by radical scavenging methods and to elicit the most effective concentration of the extract with highest antimicrobial activity by measuring the diameter of zone of inhibition against five pathogens.

Results: The various extracts revealed the presence of phytoconstituents such as phenols, flavonoids and tannins in appreciable amounts and the antioxidant potential of papaya peel. Agar well method demonstrated that the species most sensitive to C. papaya peel among the gram-positive microorganisms was Bacillus subtilis, whereas among the gram-negative species the most sensitive was Klebsiella pneumoniae.