Abstract

IN VITRO ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF AQUEOUS LEAF EXTRACT OF TRIDAX PROCUMBENS

Nivetha S.*

ABSTRACT

Bioavailability and the presence of secondary metabolites encourage research on medicinal plants to explore novel antimicrobial drugs. Antimicrobial activity was studied using agar disk-diffusion method (Kirby-Bauer method) against some selected microbial species Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterococcus species, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus cereus, Salmonella typhi, Beta Streptococcus, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger at 6.67%, 33.33%, 50%, 66.67% and 100% of its aqueous dilutions. The aqueous extract of Tridax procumbens leaves demonstrates significant antimicrobial activity against the selected microbial species, except for A. niger. Activity increases with an increase in concentration of the aqueous extract. Comparable activity has been recorded against MDR bacterial species E. coli, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. The recorded activity is found to be superior to the control against MDR Enterococcus (17.6mm) and B. cereus (19.5mm) species. The leaf extract can be a potential drug candidate for treating the microbial infections.

Keywords: Tridax procumbens, anibacterial, antifungal, aqueous, bioactive compounds.