Abstract

Babhi Kumari, Kapoor Randi and Rohit Sharma

The aim of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of five species of plants known as medicinal plants and used commonly in folkloric medicine. They are: Nigella sativa, Foeniculum vulgare, Black piper, Loranthus capitellatus, Cassia alata and Drynaria qurshiforia. In this study, we investigated the antibacterial and antifungal effects of these plants on Gram- positive and negative bacterial isolates, such as Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella sp. and fungi isolates, such as Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, Candida glabrata; Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus terrus, Alternaria sp., Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Microsporum gypseum. The antimicrobial activity of the plants extracts against isolated pathogenic bacteria and fungi was assayed by well-diffusion method for bacteria and Candida and pure plate method for dermatophytes. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) for bacteria and fungi were 0.625 to 40 mg ml-1 and 2.5 to 40 mg ml -1 , respectively. The plant extracts were revealed to be effective in inhibiting the growth of tested bacteria and fungi.