Abstract Lagenaria breviflora is a perennial plant that has been used in the antiquity for the treatment and management of diseases and disorders. The general believe of the ancient herbalist was that the plant’s leaf, stem and root had good components which was unknown to them for healing purposes. This research focused on the evaluation of the aqueous extracts from the fermented root sample for their antibacterial activity. The proximate and some of the chemical components (phytochemicals) from raw and fermented samples for their edibility and healing purposes. The values obtained for the antibacterial activities were Shigella (22.00±0.20), E. coli (10.00±0.10), Salmonella typhi (20.00±0.10), Klebsiella pneumonia (5.00±0.10), Staphylococcus aureus (7.00±0.20), Enterobacter (No zone) and proteus (No zone) respectively. The proximate compositions indicated that Crude Protein was 17.60±0.20 and 18.06±0.20 while the Carbohydrates were 37.19±0.30 and 51.56±0.50 respectively. These two parameters were higher in fermented sample. The phytochemicals quantified for dried raw and fermented samples were Tannin (mg/g) (0.260±0.10 and 0.230±0.20), Phytate (g/100g) (3.430±0.20 and 3.380±0.20), Alkaloid (g/100g) (3.200±0.30 and 2.000±0.20), Oxalate (mg/g) (2.340±0.20 and 2.160 ±0.20) and Saponin (g/100g) (16.690±0.50 and 13.600±0.20) respectively. These results revealed that the antibacterial activity of the aqueous extract from the root of Lagenaria breviflora is good for curative purposes except Enterobacter and proteus. Higher level of phytochemicals in the raw sample indicated that some of these chemicals have been embedded in the extracted fermented sample for its antibacterial activity effectiveness.
Keywords Lagenaria breviflora, root, fermentation, phytochemical, antibacterial.