Evaluation of Antibiofilm Activity of Alkaloids Extracted from Capsicum annuum Stalk: A Preliminary Study of Phytochemical Screening in Vegetable Waste

Background The current study aims to characterize the ethanolic extract of Capsicum annuum stalk (e-CaS), an unutilized vegetable waste for nitrogen containing (alkaloids) compounds. For this, e-CaS was initially screened for total alkaloids by qualitative and quantitative analysis. Upon considerable results (1.022 mg/g NE) alkaloids were isolated (cA), partially purified (fractionated), and subjected to HPLC and GC-MS. Meanwhile, cA was evaluated for antioxidant property and exposed to determine the antibiofilm activity against Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Results Chromatograms have confirmed the presence of distinct varieties of alkaloids, and GC-MS data supports that cA possess substantial antimicrobial nitrogen containing fractions. The zone of inhibition (mm) of B. amyloliquefaciens and P. aeruginosa by cA was found to be 19.02 +/- 0.07 and 20.40 +/- 0.15, respectively; and %inhibition of biofilm was observed to be 63.6 +/- 1.37 and 74.28 +/- 1.04, respectively. In addition, the morphological study of pre and post treatment bacteria through SEM suggests that e-CaS is rich in significant bactericidal alkaloids. Conclusion This study supports that vegetable waste consists of valuable bioactive compounds like, alkaloids, which are effective antibiofilm agents against severe antibiotic resistant bacteria. Hence, processing the vegetable waste for value added phytochemicals could be insightful in medical and post-harvest management applications. [GRAPHICS] .