- Medicinal plant, Pentatropis microphylla, Disc diffusion, Microorganisms.
Abstract
The stem bark extracts of the medicinal plant species, Pentatropis microphylla Roth Wight by using three alcoholic solvents viz; petroleum ether, ethyl acetate and methanol were tested against four human pathogenic bacteria viz., Bacillus subtilis, B. thuriengensis, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli and four
human pathogenic fungi viz., Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, A.baumannii and Fusarium oxysporum for assessing the antimicrobial properties by adapting disc diffusion method. The results of the study revealed that all extracts showed varied degree of antimicrobial activity against the tested pathogens. However, the ethyl acetate extracts exhibited higher inhibition zone (17.23 mm) against the bacterium, Klebsiella pneumoniae and the fungus, Aspergillus niger (19.63 mm). Therefore the result strengthens the existing traditional usage of the plant for the therapeutic use.