EVALUATION OF ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF LEAVES OF GARCINIA GUMMI GUTTA - A PLANT OF ETHNOMEDICINAL IMPORTANCE

*Lincy Sara Varghese, Shehma Shukkoor, Jaina P. James, Beena Habel, Aiswarya Tom and Shalia Joseph

ABSTRACT

Garcinia gummi gutta Linn. is a plant of immense importance in ethnobotany. The plant has been used by the tribes singly or in combination with other plant parts to cure various ailments. The present study investigated the antibacterial activity of aqueous, acetone and methanolic extracts of leaves of G. gummi gutta on eight bacterial strains viz Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Salmonella typhimurium, Bacillus sp., Proteus sp., Klebsiella sp., Serratia sp. and Pseudomonas sp. and two fungal stains viz. Aspergillus and Penicillium, respectively. All the three extracts potentially inhibited the growth of the test bacteria. However, the acetone extract was superior in antibacterial activity, followed by the methanol and aqueous extracts. Significant antibacterial activity was observed against S. aureus, Bacillus sp. and Serratia sp. In the antifungal assay the aqueous extract exhibited minimal antifungal activity against Penicillium sp., but did not inhibit the growth of Aspergillus sp. Acetone extract inhibited the growth of Aspergillus alone, without having any inhibitory activity on Penicillium sp. Methanol extract inhibited the growth of both the test fungi.

Keywords: Garcinia gummi gutta, secondary metabolites, antibacterial activity, antifungal activity, ethnomedicine.