EVALUATION OF POTENTIAL ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF ACHYRANTHES ASPERA L

Background: Medicinal plants have been a source of treating fungal and bacterial infections since ancient times. According to WHO 80% of world population depends upon traditional medicine for treating infections and other ailments. New research has been carried out to discover plants of antibacterial origin but due to some reason some plants are not given patronage and are referred to as forgotten plants. It is need of the day to evaluate forgotten plants for their antibacterial activity. Material Methods: Achyranthes Aspera extracts were screened for their antibacterial potential. The extracts of Achyrathus aspera L were tested against two bacterial strains viz. Escherichia coli ATCC 15224 and Staphylococcus auerus ATCC 6538 using disc diffusion method. For checking the antibacterial activity of plant extract agar well-diffusion method was used. Results: Among three extracts the toluene extract was most active against the test strains Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli with zone of inhibition of 18.5 mm and 12.5 mm when compared with standard Cefixime 22 mm and 23.5 mm respectively. Conclusion: Comparing the three types of extracts, toluene extract of Achyrathus aspera L was found to be the most effective for antibacterial activity especially against Gram positive bacteria as compared to Gram negative bacteria