Scoparia dulcis L. was sequentially extracted with hexane, chloroform and methanol and soaked with aqueous-acetone (80%) to check for its antimicrobial activities against five bacterial and four fungal strains. 250 μg of each extract loaded on a whatman paper disc exhibited significant antimicrobial activities on all the fungus and against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Therefore, P. mirabilis is less sensitive to all the extracts while B. cereus, a β-lactamase producer bacterium, was resistant to the activity of the polar methanol and aqueous-acetone extracts. By the microdilution method, the most active extracts were chloroform extract on B. cereus with minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 1.56 mg/ml and Aqueous-acetone extract on S. typhimurium (MIC = 1.56 mg/ml); the antifungal activity was strongest for hexane extract (MIC = 6.25 mg/ml) on both A. niger and P. roquefortii.

Scoparia dulcis, antibacterial, antifungal, polyphenols.