Vol. 127 No. 1
January– March

Antimicrobial Activity of Nine Common
Plants in Kerala, India
 

V. K. Sasidharan, T. Krishnakumar and C. B. Manjula 
 

ABSTRACT

Nine common plants, namely, Aegle marmelos (L.) Corr., Leucas indica (L.) Vatka, Murraya konigii (L.) Spreng., Tamarindus indica (L.) Pachyptera alliacea (Lam.) A. Gentry, Eupatorium odoratum (L.), Moringa oleifera (Lamk.), Cinnamomum veerum (Preal) and Cymbopogon citratus (DC) Stapf. which are indigenously used in Kerala, India for curing various infections were tested against a fungus (Aspergillus niger ) and Gram positive and negative bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, respectively). 

Except for A. marmelos, all of the aqueous and alcoholic extracts of the plants at 5.0% concentration inhibited the growth of the microorganisms. The diameter (cm) of the inhibition zones of the 5.0% aqueous extracts ranged from 0.8 to 1.6 cm in A. niger  and 1.0 to 1.4 cm in both S. aureus and E. coli. Under the same concentration of alcoholic extracts, the inhibition zones have diameters ranging from 0.9 to 1.8, 1.0 to 1.8, and 1.0 to 2.0 cm for A. niger, S. aureus and E. coli , respectively. Alcoholic extracts of plants were consistently found to be more inhibitory than aqueous extracts of the same concentration. The alcoholic extracts (5.0%) of  L. indica  and C. citratus  has the highest antifungal activity while E. odoratum  has the greatest activity against both S. aureus and E. coli. 

Key words: Leucas indica, Cymbapogan citraus, Eupatorium odoratum, antibacterial activity, antifungal activity, aqueous extract, alcoholic extrac