Abstract

*Malavath Rajender and Prof. Karuna Rupula

ABSTRACT

The different organic extracts of the dried inner bark and flower of Madhuca Longifolia (Family - Sapotaceae) was investigated for its possible antibacterial activity against four human pathogenic bacterial strains. The plant extracts were evaluated against some gram positive and gram negative bacterial strains like Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Escherichia coli was carried out by the disk diffusion technique. The pattern of inhibition varied with the solvent used for extraction and the microorganism tested. Among all the extracts the methanolic extracts showed significant antibacterial activity against most of the tested microbes. The most susceptible microorganism was Staphylococcus aureus (24 mm zone of inhibition in methanolic extract) followed by Bacillus subtilis (20 mm zone of inhibition in methanolic extract) again followed by Escherichiacoli (15 mm zone of inhibition in methanolic extract) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (10 mm zone of inhibition in methanolic extract). Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of extracts and antibiotics were comparatively determined by agar dilution method. Preliminary phytochemical analysis of different extracts was carried out. The results obtained from the present study suggested that Madhuca indica plant extracts possess significant antibacterial property. Madhuca indica crude extracts exerted a strong antifungal activity against C.albicansare often implicated in the infections of genitourinarytract; consequently the reputed usefulness of extracts in treating venereal diseases might be due to their inhibitory effect against this group of fungal species.