Preliminary Assessment of Phytochemical,Antimicrobial and Antifungal effect of Vitex negundo ( Verbanaceae) Plant Leaves

Abstract

Vitex negundo belongs to the family Verbenaceae. It is a large aromatic shrub distributed throughout the greater part of India up to an altitude of 1500 m in the outer Himalayas. It is widely planted as a hedge plant along the roads and between the roads. Traditionally it is having the flok claims like useful in treatment of rheumatism, insecticidal, antimicrobial, anticancer, tranquillizer, tonic, febrifuge, expectorant and diuretic properties. In the present study an attempt had been made to evaluate comparative antibacterial and antifungal principles from Vitex nigundo with some therapeutically used antibiotics. Different extracts of Vitex negundo leaves were investigated for its anti microbial and antifungal activity on ten bacterial species these are Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, B. polymyxa, B . megaterium, Klebsiella sp., Salmonella typhi, Shigella flexneri, Shigella sonnei ,Proteus sp. , and four fungal species Aspergillus ustus, A. niger, A. ochraceus , Candida albicans respectively. Among all extracts water-ethanol (50:50) extract showed maximum anti microbial and maximum antifungal activity against all tested species. The preliminary phytochemical study was screened and found alkaloid, flavonoid, tannin, carbohydrates, glycosides.