Antimicrobial Studies on Aqueous and Ethanolic Extract of Root, Stem and Leaves of Phyllanthus niruri (Bhumi Amla): Hepatoprotective Medicinal Plant

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the antimicrobial potential of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of P. niruri on three bacterial and three fungal pathogens. Agar well diffusion has been used to determine the antimicrobial activities of different parts of P niruri. The extracts showed antibacterial activity against tested bacterial strains while no inhibitory activity against all three tested fungal strains was observed. The ethanol extract of P. niruri (leaves, stem and root) showed potential antimicrobial activity than corresponding aqueous extracts. Furthermore, the least antimicrobial activity of particularly the aqueous stem extract of P. niruri on S. mutans amongst the other bacteria, was observed. This study showed antibacterial activity of P. niruri extracts which depends on the dose, parts of plant and the type of bacterial strain employed. In conclusion, results obtained here suggest that plant extracts are of significant value as natural antimicrobials can be used as antimicrobial agent.