Antimicrobial Activity and Priliminary Phytochemical Studies on Blepharis repens (Vahl) Roth

Abstract

Traditional medicine is the main source of medical care for a great percentage of the population of the developing world. Medicinal plants have been a valuable source of natural active phytoconsituents that play an important role in treatment of many human diseases. In the present study, stem (St), leaf (Lf), root (Rt),  and fruit (Ft) of Blepharis repens (Vahl) Roth was evaluated for its phytochemicals and antibacterial potential. The Soxhlet extraction was done by  using three different solvents viz., acetone, methanol and water. Qualitative phytochemical analysis of the crude powder extracts of B. repens stem, leaf, root and fruit was carried out for various phytoconstituents. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated by an agar disc diffusion method against four bacterial strain and two fungal strain. Qualitative phytochemical analysis shows presence of secondary metabolite in extracts. The methanol  extracts showed better antimicrobial activity than acetone and aqueous extracts. This may be because of the difference in the presence of phytoconsituents present in them.

Keywords: Blepharis repens, antimicrobial activity, herbal medicine, phytochemical analysis.