Antibacterial activity of a few medicinal plants against Xanthomonas campestris and Aeromonas hydrophila

Abstract

The methanol and aqueous extracts of leaves of six different medicinal plants, Acalypha indica, Aerva lanata, Phyllanthus amarus, Phyllanthus emblica, Cassia auriculata and Caesalpinia pulcherrima, were used for the investigation of antibacterial studies. In antibacterial screening performed by disc diffusion method against two types of bacteria namely Xanthomonas campestris (plant pathogen) and Aeromonas hydrophila (human pathogen), it was found that the methanol extracts of all the plant samples showed significant activity against the two tested bacteria. The methanol extracts of Acalypha indica, Aerva lanata and Phyllanthus amarus exhibited clear zone of inhibition against the tested micro organisms. Among these three samples, the MIC value of Aerva lanata, determined by serial dilution technique, was found to be 32μg/ml and 64μg/ml against Xanthomonas campestris and Aeromonas hydrophila respectively.