Kniphofia pumila has been traditionally used for the treatment of different diseases in Oromiya regional state, western part of Ethiopia. Thus, the main objective of this study was to extract bioactive natural products from the roots of K. pumila and perform in vitro antibacterial activity tests against selected pathogens. Extraction of compound from the roots of K. pumila was carried out by maceration method at room temperature and its antibacterial activity was done using agar disc diffusion method. The crude extracts alone and along with ZnCl2 were tested against pathogenic bacteria Escherichia coli (ATCC 25722), Klebsiella pneumoniae subsp. pneumoniae (DSM 19613), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25925) and Salmonella Typhimurium (ATCC 13311). Following its promising activity, the acetone crude extract that have shown better antibacterial activity was subjected to column chromatography for isolation of pure compound. Hence, one pure compound (GZ-1) was obtained from acetone crude extract. Meanwhile, the antibacterial activities of the isolated compound alone and in combination with ZnCl2 were also performed against all aforementioned bacterial strains. Then, isolated compound was characterized by using NMR spectroscopic techniques such as 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and, 2D NMR, so as to establish its structure as 3’-acetyl-2’,6’-dihydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl-1,8-dihydroxy-3-methylanthraquinone, trivial name knipholone. Finally, GZ-1 was isolated from the roots of K. pumila and it was noted that the antibacterial activities of ZnCl2 in combination with crude extract as well as with isolated compound against E. coli (ATCC 25722), S. aureus (ATCC 25925) and S. Typhimurium (ATCC 13311) bacterial strains showed remarkable results which were greater than the antibacterial activity of the positive standard drug (gentamycin). To sum up, from the chromatographic isolation of roots acetone extract of K. pumila one pure compound (knipholone) was obtained. Its antibacterial activity was also evaluated in combination with ZnCl2 salt and alone.

Biosynthesis of metallic oxide nanoparticles is being used and preferred over physical and chemical methods of synthesis since it is simple, inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and green. The aim of this study was to synthesise ZnO and nickel doped ZnO nanoparticles using Euphorbia abyssinica bark extract for antimicrobial activity studies via agar disk diffusion method against some selected microbes. The synthesised nanoparticles were characterised using X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The study results revealed that the biosynthesised nanoparticles had good crystalline nature, with crystal sizes in the range of nanoparticles and structures of hexagonal wurtzite. Both undoped ZnO and nickel doped ZnO nanoparticles demonstrated antibacterial and antifungal activity against four bacterial strains and two fungal genus. Generally, nickel doped ZnO NPs were found to possess more antimicrobial activities than undoped ZnO NPs. Specially, 4% and 5% nickel doped ZnO NPs showed significantly enhanced activity against Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Aspergillus and Fusarium.

Background The emergency of multidrug resistance due to the global burden of infectious diseases and drug misuse leads to an urgent identification of new medicines from medicinal plants. The study was designed to perform the documentation of ethno-medicinal plants usage, extraction, phytochemical screening and antimicrobial activities of the herbal extracts. Methods A cross-sectional study design was conducted in this study. Maceration of plant extraction, phytochemical screening and disc diffusion method for antimicrobial activity tests were employed. Results The results of the study indicated that Euphorbiaceae, Lamiaceae and Sapindaceae plant families have commonly used for the treatment of infectious diseases in the study areas. The antimicrobial activity test results indicated that Ostegia integrifolia Benth which was extracted with chloroform solvent showed equivalent inhibition zone as compared to standard drug, gentamicin. All the extracts could be considered as broad spectrum, have strong inhibition against E. coli, K. pneumoniae, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa and C. albicans . All extracts against C. albicans were also revealed strong inhibition activity as compared to fungal standard drug, contamazole. Conclusion Phytochemical screening showed the existence of secondary metabolites in the studied plants and thus, supports the traditional healers’ claim of such plants use for the treatment of diseases. The study also concluded that chloroform extracts of all plants showed promising antimicrobial activities against K. pneumonia , and C. albicans . Therefore, further in vitro and vivo antimicrobial activity study of chloroform extracts against these bacterial and fungal strains were recommended. Moreover, isolation and structural elucidation of bioactive compounds from chloroform extracts were also recommended.

The problem of drinking water quality is common in developing countries. While a piped water supply is available in many parts of Fiche, Ethiopia, the water may be contaminated in the distribution system and thus, continuous quality assessment is required to ensure safe drinking water for the community. Instrumental and spectrophotometric methods were used to analyze the chemical characteristics including dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, chloride, fluoride, nitrate, nitrite, sulfate, ammonia, iron and manganese. The weighted arithmetic water quality index method was applied to assess the water's quality rating. The chemical characteristics of the tap water's annual range was; temperature between 19.4 and 20.0°C, pH between 6.8 and 7.6, DO between 4.5 and 6.1 mg/L, ammonia between 0.01 and 0.2 mg-NH3/L, nitrate between 1.1 and 1.8 mg-NO3/L, nitrite between 0.003 and 0.06 mg-NO2/L, 2.0 and 19.1 mg-SO42−/L, chloride between 10.07 and 30.0 mg-Cl−/L, manganese between 0.003 and 0.003 mg-Mn/L, iron between 0.01 and 0.03 mg-Fe/L. The WQIs for the reservoir and tap water were 25.031 and 40.676, respectively, so the tap water is rated ‘good’ for drinking.