Morphological, microscopical, physico-chemical and antimicrobial investigations on leaves of calotropis gigantea linn

Abstract

Calotropis gigantea Linn commonly known as Mudar or Yercum belongs to the family Asclepiadaceae. Leaves of this plant were investigated for its morphological, microscopical and phytochemical constituents to check the authenticity of the plant. Column fractionation was done. A study to evaluate in-vitro antibacterial activity of methanol extract of the leaves against gram negative bacteria such as Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli was carried out. The pathogens were tested by disc diffusion assay method and minimum inhibitory concentration was evaluated. An attempt has been made to compare the activity of extract with standard ciprofloxin. Maximum activity was seen in case of Pseudomonas fluorescens where the zone diameter was 32 mm (300 μg/ml). The antibacterial activity therefore shows clearly that the resistance to the pathogens may be minimized by these natural products of the plant origins.