Abstract

PUNICA GRANATUM L. STEM AND LEAVES. A SOURCE OF ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY

*Meenakshi Vaidya and Mrunalini Sambhare

Abstract

Traditional medicine using herbal drugs exists in every part of the world. Although the philosophies of these traditional medicines have resemblance with each other, they differ widely from modern Western medicine. In view of the progress of western medicine, not only new synthetic drugs but also herbal drugs have to fulfill the international requirements on quality, safety and efficacy. Herbal drugs have the advantage of being available for patients in the geographical area of the special traditional medicine. The plant Punica granatum is commonly called as pomegranate and is used for the present study. The test organisms used were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus & Streptomyces pyogenes to check the antimicrobial activity of Punica granatum. The observations have shown that the antimicrobial activity is present in all the five test organisms and in the increasing concentration of the plant extract suggesting that this plant can possibly be used as medicine as an antimicrobial agent.

Keywords: Punica granatum, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptomyces pyogenes, antimicrobial activity.