ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF Curculigo orchioides GAERTN, AN ENDANGERED PLANT

Curculigo orchioides Gaertn (Family: Hypoxidaceae) commonly known as ‘Nilappana’ is a member of dasapushpa, a group of ten medicinal plants traditionally used in Kerala. It is an endangered medicinal plant usually seen in sandy area with good moisture content. It is a stem less plant with long root stock with crowded leaves on short stem and has bright yellow flowers. The plant has greater medicinal value. The plant is used for the preparation of various Ayurvedic decoctions. The plant is considered to have antioxidant, anticancer, hepatoprotective, immunostimulant and antidiabetic activities. The present study was conducted to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of Curculigo orchioides Gaertn. Antimicrobial activity was carried out by disc diffusion method using petroleum ether, chloroform and methanol extracts of the plant against bacterial strains such as Salmonella sps, Bacillus subtilis, Klebsiella sps, Proteus vulgaris, and Escherichia coli and fungal strains such as Neurospora crassa, Aspergillus niger, Saccharomyces cerevisae, Rhizopus nigricans and Alternaria sps. The antimicrobial activity was compared with standards Ampicillin (antibacterial activity) and miconazole (antifungal activity). Antibacterial activity was maximum for methanol extract which was against Bacillus subtilis (9 mm) and there was no activity for petroleum extract. In the case of antifungal activity, the petroleum ether and chloroform extracts showed maximum activity against Neurospora crassa (11 mm and 17 mm respectively). The methanol extract has the maximum activity against Neurospora crassa (22 mm) and Aspergillus niger (21 mm). Among the three extracts the methanol extract has maximum antimicrobial activity.