ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITIES OF VARIOUS EXTRACTS OF GUETTARDA SPECIOSA L.

ABSTRACT

The leaves of Guettarda speciosa L. is used to treat coughs, colds and sore throats. The native practitioners in and around Tirunelveli District, India, have claimed that the inner bark of this plant are being traditionally used in diarrhoea. The dried plant powder was extracted by Soxhelation and cold maceration process by using chloroform and ethanol.  These extracts were subjected to various phytochemical analysis to identify alkaloids, flavonoids, triterpinoids, carbohydrates, tannins, phenols, gums and mucilage. Various crude extracts of Guettarda speciosa L. were investigated to screen the potential antibacterial activity against gram positive and gram negative bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, E.Coli, and Klebsiella pneumonia and anti fungal activity was studied against Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans by using Muller-Hinton agar media by disc diffusion method .The result showed that both chloroform and ethanolic extract exhibit potent antifungal and anti bacterial activity.

Keywords: Guettarda speciosa L., Antibacterial, Antifungal, Traditional Plant