Antibacterial Activity of the Crude Ethanolic Extract of Xylocarpus granatum Stem Barks

Abstract

Antimicrobial effect of the crude organic extract of Xylocarpus granatum stem barks was studied in the Department of Pharmacology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh, during the period from October to December 2003. Disc diffusion method has been adopted in this study and petri dishes (120 mm in diameter) containing nutrient agar medium seeded with the test organism was used for antimicrobial screening. Test materials diffuse from the discs to the surrounding medium of the plate. The plates are then kept in an incubator (37º) for 18 hours to allow the growth of the microorganisms. The antibacterial activity of the test agent is determined by measuring the diameter of the zone of inhibition in term of millimeter. Antimicrobial screening showed that the crude ethanol extract and other partially extracted fraction of the barks of Xylocarpus granatum possess antimicrobial activity against most of the test organisms depending upon the nature of their active ingredients in the extract and capacity of diffusion into the agar medium. Among the test organisms, the extract showed significant antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus epidermis, Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella boydii, and Proteus spp. and moderate activity against Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pyogenes, and no activity against Shigella dysentery, Enterococci, Salmonella typhi. Key words : Antibacterial activity, Xylocarpus granatum, kanamycin, disc diffusion doi:10.3329/bjvm.v4i1.1529 Bangl. J. Vet. Med. (2006). 4 (1): 69-72