Antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of pulp extracts from three populations of Ziziphus lotus L. Chaimae Rais Laboratory of Functional Ecology and Environment, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, FEZ, Morocco and Laboratory of Botany, National Agency of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Taounate, Morocco Asmae Driouch, Chaimae Slimani and Aymane Bessi Laboratory of Functional Ecology and Environment, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah, FEZ, Morocco Mounyr Balouiri Laboratory of Microbial Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah, FEZ, Morocco, and Lahsen El Ghadraoui, Abderrahim Lazraq and Jamila Al Figuigui Laboratory of Functional Ecology and Environment, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah, FEZ, Morocco Abstract Purpose – This paper aims to evaluate the antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of ethanol, methanol and aqueous extracts of the jujube fruit. Design/methodology/approach – The fruit samples were harvested from Ziziphus lotus L. in three regions of Morocco: Aïn Chifae (Immouzer), Saiss (Fez) and Guercif. The fruit extracts were obtained by Soxhlet method using ethanol, methanol and water, and then a phytochemical screening was done for each extract. Total phenolic and total flavonoids contents were also determined. Afterward, the antimicrobial activity of the studied extracts was evaluated using the broth microdilution method. To estimate the total antioxidant effect of these extracts, the DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) scavenging and phosphomolybdate tests were performed. Findings – Results showed that the highest content of polyphenols and flavonoids was found for ethanol and methanol extracts, while the lowest content was found in the aqueous extracts for all populations studied. Thus, results showed that the highest content of phenolic compounds was recorded in the population of Fez. Methanol extract of this population was the richest in polyphenols (30.36mg/g) and in flavonoids (13.03mg/g). The antimicrobial tests showed that Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the most sensitive (6.25mg/ml), compared to the other tested strains. Based on the minimal bactericidal concentrations/minimal fungicidal concentration or MFC/MIC ratio, it seems that ethanol extracts showed a bactericidal effect against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtillis, and a bacteriostatic effect against Enterococcus faecalis. On the other hand, the methanol extract showed bacteriostatic effect against Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In addition, methanol extracts of Ziziphus lotus have significant antioxidant potent. Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. NFS 49,6 1014 Received 19 August 2018 Revised 9 October 2018 18 November 2018 21 December 2018 Accepted 23 December 2018 Nutrition & Food Science Vol. 49 No. 6, 2019 pp. 1014-1028 © Emerald Publishing Limited 0034-6659 DOI 10.1108/NFS-08-2018-0232 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/0034-6659.htm