Bioprospecting of some medicinal plants explored for antifungal activity

In the present study, evaluation of different plant parts of fifteen medicinal plants belongs to different families have been screened for in vitro efficacy of antifungal activity against phyto pathogenic (Aspergillus and Fusarium species) as well as human pathogenic fungi (Candida albicans and Microsporum species) using agar well diffusion assay. The results showed that among fifteen medicinal plants, crude extracts of different solvents viz., petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol tested for antifungal activity, twelve plants were found to be effective against one or the other test fungi, among these plants, solvent extracts of Callistemon lanceolatus showed significant activity against C. albicans, Microsporum gypseum, Cordia dichrotoma leaves extracts exhibited significant activity against A. niger, A. flavus and C. albicans. Sphaeranthus indicus L. whole plant extracts exhibited significant activity against Aspergillus spp., C. albicans and Microsporum canis. Leaves extracts of Vitex negundo exhibited significant activity against A. niger, A. flavus, F. verticillioides, C. albicans and moderate activity against F. crookwellense. Extracts of Butea monosperma exhibited significant to moderate activity against all test pathogens except C. albicans. The obtained results imparts a preliminary piece of significant information regarding the antifungal potentiality of screened medicinal plants and thus our present investigation depicted an outline interpretation of significant activity with crude solvent extracts, which could be exploit for further isolation and investigation of antifungal agents for crop diseases management and human health.

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