Screening of Phytochemicals and Antibacterial Potential of Dicranopteris linearis (Burm.f.) Underw.

J. Vijayakumari; T. Leon Stephan Raj

Abstract

The present study deals with screening of phytochemical and antibacterial potential of terrestrial fern Dicranopteris linearis (Burm.f.) Underw. collected from Marthandam region of Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, India. The fresh plant material was collected and shade dried for a week and powdered. The powdered material was subjected to gradient extraction with Soxhlet apparatus with two different solvents (acetone and chloroform) and screened for its phytochemical and antibacterial potential. Phytochemical studies explored the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols, tannins, quinines, terpenoids, steroids, anthocyanin and saponins in plant extracts. Fine powder was examined under normal light and UV light (265 nm and 365 nm, respectively) for fluorescence analysis. Antibacterial assay was carried out by agar disc-diffusion method. Six test organisms—Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhimurium—were used for the study. The antibacterial activity of acetone and chloroform extracts was evaluated by measuring the zone of inhibition and revealed that acetone and chloroform extracts showed maximum activity against E. coli (8 mm) and E. faecalis (11 mm) as compared to other organisms. The result revealed that the plant has enormous phytochemicals and showed good antibacterial activity against potent microorganisms. It can be recommended to the pharmaceutical industry in the future after the isolation of pure compounds.

Abstract

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