IN VITRO EVALUATION OF ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIFUNGAL PROPERTIRS OF TERMINALIA BELERICA

The research work was conducted with the fruits of Terminalia belerica (Fam: Combretaceae) to investigate antibacterial & antifungal activities. The fruits of the plant were successively extracted by cold extraction process by using two solvents namely ethanol and acetone. Antimicrobial activities of the extracts of both solvents were investigated by a simple agar diffusion method using ten pathogenic bacteria. The extracts of ethanol showed moderate activity against all tested pathogenic bacteria except Bacillus subtilis. Again acetone extracts showed moderate activity against Vibrio cholerae, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Shigella dysenteriae and Escherichia coli. All the activities were determined by measuring the zone of inhibition compared with the standard antibiotic (Amoxicillin). Antifungal screening was done for the ethanol and acetone extracts by disk diffusion method with ten pathogenic fungi. Both the extracts showed moderate activity against Colletotrichum corcori, Fusarium equiseti and Candida albicans. In this case, Griseofulvin was used as standard antibiotic.