Abstract

COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF ANTBACTERIAL ACTIVITIES OF PUNICA GRANATUM LEAVES AND ACACIA LEUCOPHLOEA ROXB. LEAVES

Brijesh Sharma*, Lal Ratnakar Singh, Geetika Gupta, Deen Dayal Singh, Ashok Kumar

ABSTRACT

In the present investigation, the aqueous and methanolic leaf extracts of Punica granatum L. and Acacia leucophloea Roxb. were subjected to phytochemical screening using various qualitative tests. Their physical characteristics and antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Streptococcus and Pseudomonas aeuroginosa, was evaluated visually and by disc diffusion method, respectively. A comparison was made between antibacterial activity of both the above plants. The results revealed the presence of Phenols, tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, glycosides, terpenoids, carbohydrates, proteins and lipids in P. granatum leaves and A. leucophloea leaves consisted of steroids in addition to the above constituents. The results further showed that both the extracts were effective against all the tested bacteria and antibacterial activity increased with an increase in concentration of extract. The maximum zone of inhibition (mm.) against E. coli, P. aeuroginosa and Streptococcus were detected to be 20, 14, 20 and 13, 18, 23 for methanolic and aqueous leaf extracts of P. granatum, respectively. Similarly, the maximum zone of inhibition (mm.) against E. coli, P. aeuroginosa and Streptococcus were found to be 13, 16, 17 and 17, 12, 22 for methanolic and aqueous leaf extracts of A. leucophloea, respectively. Nature of solvent considerably affected their antibacterial activity. Overall, P. granatum was found to have greater antibacterial activity against all the tested bacteria. The results of study suggested that the leaf of both above plants can be used as effective antibacterial agents for treating bacterial infections, supported their use as Ayurvedic phytomedicine and their combination in the form of some suitable dosage forms for topical application could yield better results in case of skin infections.

Keywords: Phytochemical, antibacterial, phytomedicine, zone of inhibition.