World is endowed with a rich wealth of medicinal plants. Man cannot survive on this earth for long life without the
plant kingdom because the plant products and their active constituents played an important role. Herbs have always been the principal form of medicine in India and presently they are becoming popular throughout the world, as people strive to stay health in the face of chronic stress and pollution, and to treat illness with medicines that work in count with the body’s own defense (Perumalsamy et al., 1998). There is a widespread belief that green medicines are healthier and more harmless or safer than synthetic ones (Parvathi et al., 2003). Medicinal plants have been used to cure a number of diseases. Though the recovery is slow, the therapeutic use of medicinal plant is becoming popular because of its inability to cause side effects and antibiotic resistant microorganisms (Rawat, 2003).
Three medicinal plant
Aegle marmelos, Lawsonia inermis, Albizzia libbeck were extracted by soxhlet apparatus using
petroleum ether, ethanol, chloroform and aqueous as solvent. Among those extract, the petroleum ether was considered as effective one. The extracts were subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening and the three plants with four extracts were tested against three Gram positive bacteria (
B.cereus,
B.subtilis,
S. aureus) and three Gram negative bacteria (
E.coli, P.vulgaris, and
P.aeruginosa) by disc diffusion method. Maximum
inhibition (4.0cm) was recorded in
Lawsonia inermis. It also showed inhibitory action against all the six pathogen tested. The zone of inhibition of the extracts was compared with the standard antibiotics Streptomycin and Spectinomycin. The study suggests that the plant is promising the development of phytomedicine for antimicrobial properties.