Evaluation of Antimicrobial Potential of Ethnomedicinal Plant: Ficus hispida L.

Abstract

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 Ficus hispida L. was evaluated for its antibacterial potential. The Soxhlet extraction was done by using three different solvents viz., acetone, methanol and water. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated by an agar disc diffusion method against four bacterial strains viz., Staphylococcus aureus (NCIM 5345), Escherichia coli (NCIM 2931), Enterobacter aerogenes (NCIM 5139), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (NCIM 5029) and two fungal strains viz., Fusarium proliferatum (NCIM 1103), Fusarium oxysporum (NCIM 1281).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: Ficus hispida, ethnomedicinal plants, antimicrobial activity, herbal medicine, phytochemicals.