Antimicrobial Activity of Aqueous Extracts of Different Parts of Terminalia catappa L.

Abstract

Infectious diseases have become a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Antimicrobial resistance is a serious threat to global public health. Plant chems. are useful for infection control and, until the advent of antibiotics, were the only remedies available. Plants are rich in a wide variety of secondary metabolites, such as tannins, terpenoids, alkaloids, and flavonoids, which have been found in vitro to have antimicrobial properties. Tropical almond, botanically equated as Terminalia catappa L. is a large spreading tree. In the present study, attempts were made to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of aq. ext. of different parts of this plant against bacterial and fungal species using disk diffusion method. Anti bacterial activity of bark was more against gram neg. bacteria than gram pos. Aq. ext. of fruit revealed more efficacy towards gram pos. organisms where as wood ext. was equipotent against gram pos. as well as gram neg. organisms. Antifungal activity was more for fruits than bark and wood exts. Activity of the exts. was compared with std. antibiotics. [on SciFinder(R)]