ANTI OXIDANT, MICROBIAL AND PHYTO CHEMICAL STUDIES OF CARICA PAPAYA MILK: A NATURAL HAND SANITIZER

In this study, the effect of Carica papayaagainst various microorganisms is evaluated using DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate) assay for antioxidant activity. The focus is on employing the antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of papaya milk as a natural antimicrobial by preparing hand sanitizer.Papaya (Carica papaya Linn), a nutraceutical fruit well known for its nutritional values and potent medicinal properties such as antioxidant, anti-bacterial, anti-helminthic, anti-fungal, anti-hypertensive and anti-fertility, free radical scavenging activity [1-10]. The study includesextraction of C.papaya milk from C. papaya fruit and identification of phytochemical constituents by performing chemical tests. Preparation of sanitizer with 5ml and 7ml of C. Papaya Milk for 10 ml sanitizer.Evaluation of antimicrobial activity of prepared sanitizer on cultures from hand using spread plate method.Determination of sanitizing ability was done by calculating percent reduction in colony forming units (CFU) before and after sanitization. Evaluation of antioxidant activity by in vitro DPPH Scavenging method.The standard sanitizer had shown 75% effectiveness, isopropyl alcohol shows90% effectiveness, and finally sanitizer which is prepared from papaya milk was found to be 58% effective against micro-organisms.