In recent years, the growing number and active spread of antibiotic
resistance have become a major concern globally. This forces the need to
discover, analyse and develop new kinds of antibiotics, especially among
plants. There are still limited data on the extracts from Hylocereus
polyrhizus fruit as antimicrobials. In this study, the disc diffusion and brothmicrodilution methods are used to investigate the antimicrobial activity of
methanol and ethanol extracts of Hylocereus polyrhizus flesh towards
selected bacteria (Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus,
Proteus mirabilis, Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and
Escherichia coli). The methanolic extract possesses better antimicrobial
properties. The methanolic extract of H. polyrhizus showed significant
antimicrobial activities against all Gram-positive bacteria, and one of the
Gram-negative bacteria, which is better compared to ethanolic extract. The
range of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal
concentration (MBC) are 125mg/mL to 250mg/mL. In conclusion, this study
shows that H. polyrhizus could be used as an alternative for the pre-existing
antimicrobial agent.