Evaluation of antibacterial activity of certain plant extracts against some bacterial strains

In the present study, methanolic and ethanolic extracts of three plant species namely Lantana camara L., Aegle marmelos (L.) Corr. and Emblica officinalis L. were evaluated for their antibacterial activity against four bacterial strains namely Bacillus subtilis Cohn, Bacillus cerus Farkland and Farkland, Micrococcus luteus (Schr.) Cohn and Escherichia coli (Mig.) Castellani and Chalmers. Two concentrations of extracts viz. 5 and 10% of all plants were used to check their antibacterial activity. Both ethanol and methanol extracts showed considerable antimicrobial potential against given microbes however, ethanol extract was found more effective than the methanol extract. E. officinalis had more antimicrobial activity than the other two plants extracts. Both Ethanolic and methanolic extracts of E. officinalis exhibited increased antibacterial activity around 1.8 folds (B. cerus), 1.5-2.0 folds (M. luteus) and 1.8-2.0 folds (E. coli) as compared to control. In case of B. subtilis, only methanolic extract of E. officinalis showed around 2.0- 2.5 folds increased antibacterial activity.