Medicinal plants are various plants thought by some to have medicinal properties, but few plants or their phytochemical constituents have been proven by rigorous science to have medicinal effects. Phytochemicals are non-nutritive plant chemicals that have protective or disease preventive properties. The main objective of the study is to screen the antibacterial activity of pepper (Piper nigrum L.) against Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Proteus sp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Agar well diffusion method was performed and found that all the bacteria showed sensitive to methanol and chloroform extract of pepper except Pseudomonas aeruginosa which showed resistant to both the extracts. The pepper plant extracts were screened for their phytochemical content. Qualitative phytochemical tests were used to detect the presence of alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, cardiac and cardiac glycosides. Presence of these phytochemicals in the medicinal plants indicates the presence of antibacterial properties against the Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli and Proteus sp. This study scientifically validates the use of plants as a potent antibacterial agent.
