Agricultural Research Management Information System

Home
Research Summary
Search
About Us
- ARMIS
- Brochure
Contact Us
Report
User Request
Data Input
Help
- Operation Manual
  - PDF
  - Video
- Program Area & Commodity
We have reached 37600 number of research entries at this moment.

- Logout

Research Detail

Home
Research
Detail

A Comparative Study of Antimicrobial Activity of the Leaf and Stem of Alocasia Indica L.

Md. Rabiul Karim
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh

Nasrin Ferdous
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh

Narayan Roy
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh

Subed Chandra Dev Sharma
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh

Md. Golam Sarowar Jahan
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh

Mohammad Shariar Shovon
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Plants are good sources of pharmaceutical compounds, which confer resistance to pathogenic microorganisms. The aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial activity of ethanol extract of both leaves and stems of Alocasia indica L in vitro by the agar disc diffusion method. The plant showed antibacterial and antifungal activity against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria and pathogenic fungi. Leaf and stem extracts were found to have antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. These extracts also showed antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The experiments demonstrated similar inhibition of bacterial and fungal growth for leaf and stem extracts. This indicates the potentiality of Alocasia indica L as an important source of antimicrobial compound.

Keywords: Comparative study, Alocasia indica, Antibacterial, Antifungal

Location: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Rajshahi

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Development of Host and Medicinal Plants

Non-commodity: Performance

Objectives:

To study the effects of ethanolic extract of leaves and stems of Alocasia indica to ascertain the scientific basis for the use of this plant against microbial infection.

Methodology:

Collection of Plant Materials - Mature plants were collected locally for the experimental purposes. The leaves and stems were separated manually from the plants and washed several times with running tap water to remove the foreign materials. Fresh leaves and stem were then allowed to dry in the sunlight for four consecutive days followed by heating in an electric oven at 40^oC until a constant weight was reached. The dried leaves and stem were finally ground into fine powder, packed and stored in a refrigerator at 4^oC prior to analysis. Extraction of Plant Materials - For solvent extraction (Soxhlet method), 500g powder of leaves and stem were placed into a separate cellulose paper cone and extracted using ethanol in a 5-1 Soxhlet extractor for 8 h. The extract was then recovered by evaporating off the solvent using rotary evaporator and residual solvent was removed by drying in an oven at 60 °C for 1 h. Microbial Strains and Culture - A total of ten pathogenic bacteria were selected for the antibacterial activity test, five of which were gram positive and the remaining were gram negative. Antifungal activity test was performed against six pathogenic fungi . The pure microbial strais were collected from the microbiological research laboratory of Institute of Biological Science (IBScs), University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Bacteria were grown in nutrient agar (DIFCO) medium (0.005% of bacto peptone, 1% yeast extract, 125mM Nacl, 2% agar, pH 7.2). Fungi were cultured in potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium ( 200gm peeled and sliced potato, 40gm Dextrose, 20gm Agar, 1000ml Distill water ). Antimicrobial activity - The antimicrobial activity was determined by agar disc diffusion method (Vander and Vlietnck.,1991). Briefly, the crude extract was dissolved in suitable solvent to develop a solution of known concentration (mg/ml). Dried and sterilized filter paper discs (6 mm) impregnated with known concentration of the test material was placed on agar plates which had previously been inoculated with the test microorganisms. Standard antibiotic disc and blank disc (impregnated with solvent) were used as a positive and negative control, respectively. The plates were then kept in a refrigerator at 4ºC for about 24 hours in order to provide sufficient time to diffuse the sample and standard antibiotic from the discs to surrounding agar medium. Finally, the plates were incubated at 37ºC for 24 hours to allow maximum growth of the organisms. The test materials having antibacterial activity inhibited the growth of the microorganism and a clear, distinct zone of inhibition was visualized surrounding the disc on the medium. The antibacterial activity of the test agent was determined by measuring the diameter of the zone of inhibition in terms of millimeter (mm). The antibacterial activity of ethanol extract was tested against ten bacteria at concentrations of 300 μg/disc and 400 μg/disc. For antifungal activity, the concentrations were 400 μg/disc and 500 μg/disc. To compare the activity with standard antibiotics, Kanamycin (30 μg/disc) and Nystatin (50 μg/disc) were used for antibacterial and antifungal test, respectively. Statistical analysis - Values represented are the means and standard deviations for three replicates. Statistical analysis was carried out by Excel Version 8.0 software. Significance was defined at P < 0.05.

Source of Information: International Journal of Biosciences | IJB |; ISSN: 2220-6655 (Print), 2222-5234 (Online); Vol. 7, No. 4, p. 87-93, 2015

Article Link (Online Journal): http://www.innspub.net; http://dx.doi.org/10.12692/ijb/7.4.87-93

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The present study suggested that Alocasia indica extracts presumably possess compound(s) with antimicrobial properties against gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis), gram-negative (Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia) bacteria, and fungus (Aspergillus niger, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans). Purification of bioactive compounds can, thus, be further studied for the development of novel antimicrobial therapies.

Knowledge Management: Journal