ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF SOME MEDICINAL IMPORTANT PLANTS

The emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance, as well as the evolution of new strains of disease causing agents, are of great concern to the global health community. Frequently used medicinal plants could be an exceptional source of drugs to scrap off this dilemma. Medicinal plants are traditionally used for the treatment of human infections. The present study was undertaken to investigate Apples, Amla and clove for the potential activity against human bacterial pathogen including Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis using agar well diffusion method. The results indicated that most of the extracts exhibited antimicrobial properties. Among the three medicinal plants, the highest potential was observed in the extract of Syzygium aromaticum (clove) against Staphylococcus aureus (2.8 cm) followed by Escherichia coliand Bacillus subtilis (2.0 cm), Phyllanthus emblica (Amla) extract displayed maximum potential activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (3.8 cm). In addition to these extracts, extract of Malus domestica (apple fruit) also exhibited antimicrobial activity against bacterial pathogens. The experiment confirmed the effectiveness of selected plant extracts as a natural antimicrobials and suggested the likelihood of employing them in drugs for the treatment of infectious diseases