Abstract
Author(s): R. Nanthakumar*, MR. Udhayasankar, V. Ashadevi, K. Arumugasamy and A. Shalimol
Absolutely the plant kingdom holds many species of plants containing substances of medicinal value that have yet to be discovered. Therefore in recent years, considerable attention has been directed towards the identification of plants with antimicrobial activity. For this reason, Rhinacanthus nasutus a medicinal plant belonging to family Acanthaceae, the under shrub was selected for the present study. The study was formulated with the objective to assess the antibacterial activity of R. nasutus. The antibacterial and antifungal activities were assessed by the presence or absence of inhibition zones from aqueous and ethanolic leaf extracts of R. nasutus. The results showed that most effective activity against bacterial strains Bacillus subtilis and Salmonella paratyphi. The same extracts had exhibit highest inhibitory activity against the fungal strains Candida albicans and Aspergillus flavus. The present findings suggest the usefulness of leaf aqueous extracts of Rhinacanthus nasutus against pathogenic bacteria and fungal strains.