In-Vitro Antibacterial Activity of Some Medicinally Important Plants Against Plant and Human Pathogens

Medicinal plants represents rich source for antimicrobial agents and thus widely used in different countries and are a source of potent and powerful drugs. Considering the vast potentiality of medicinal plants as antibacterial agents, a systematic investigation was undertaken to screen the antibacterial activity of five medicinal plants viz. Solanum torvum, Adhatoda vasica, Terminalia chebula, Asparagus racemosus and Simarouba glauca against bacterial pathogens Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The ethanol leaf extracts of five plants showed variable zone of inhibition ranging from 3 to 11 mm against B. subtilis, S. aureus, E. coli and .P aeruginosa. The methanol extracts of all five plants failed to show zone of inhibition. However, hot water extract of S. torvum showed zone of inhibition about 6 mm against B. subtilis and P aeruginosa and about 7 mm against S. aureus and E. coli. The highest zone of inhibition was measured about 12 mm for ethanol + methanol extracts of A. vasica against E. coli. Thus, it reveals that bioactive compounds like alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids etc. may be the cause of inhibition and can easily be isolated in presence of ethanol, methanol, ethanol + methanol and hot water.