BackgroundPlant derived medicines show significant contributions to mankind in treating infections of pathogenic bacteria. Recently plants are used in pharmaceutical industries for novel drug preparations because to ensure efficacy and safety as synthetic antibiotics are threatened for their multidrug resistance. The present study aimed at finding antibacterial potential of aqueous and ethanolic leaf extracts of Combretum album.MethodsAntibacterial activity was evaluated against seven bacterial strains by determining minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and zone of inhibition. Diameters of the zone of inhibition were compared with standard antibiotics. Preliminary phytochemical screening was done according to standard protocol. FTIR analysis was performed to identify the general phytochemical groups of compounds in the extract. All experiments were conducted in triplicate and values were expressed as the mean ± standard deviation. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey tests were performed for statistical justification.ResultsMaximum zones of inhibition were found in case of ethanolic extracts in the following order Bacillus licheniformis (MTCC 530) > Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MTCC 2453) > Bacillus subtilis (MTCC 441) >, Pseudomonas fluorescens (MTCC 103) > Bacillus mycoides (MTCC 7343) > Escherichia coli (MTCC 739) > Pseudomonas putida (MTCC 1654) with zone of inhibition of 27.67 ± 0.33 mm diameter in B. licheniformis (MTCC 530). Qualitatively, the ethanol extract contains flavonoids, tannins and alkaloids. The results of FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of R-CH2-OH groups, aromatics, C-N stretching amine and NH stretching secondary amine. One way ANOVA and Tukey tests statistically justify the data (p ≤ 0.05).ConclusionsAll the tested leaf extracts showed promising antibacterial activity against both gram positive and gram negative bacteria. Phytochemical screening and FTIR analysis revealed the presence of tannins, alkaloids, R-CH2-OH groups, aromatics and flavonoids in ethanolic leaf extract qualitatively and these compounds could be responsible for antibacterial property of leaf extracts of C. album.

: Botanicals have been cultured to flavour food, to treat health disorders and to put a stop to diseases caused by various microorganisms. The awareness of curative features of different medicinal plants has been spread among human communities. The application of herbal products as antimicrobial agents may be a better choice to the extensive and imprudent use of synthetic antibiotics. World Health Organization recommended traditional medicines as safest remedies for treatment of diseases of microbial origin. The plant extracts are generally non-hazardous, available in plenty at reasonable prices, biodegradable, eco-friendly and show sometimes broad-spectrum activities against different micro organisms. The current knowledge on plant extracts, phytochemicals and their antibacterial activity, target specific mechanism of action, solvents deployed during extraction, properties of active ingredient isolated may obviously help in biological control of bacteria. Antimicrobial properties of different plant parts, which act in a low dose, have been organised separately for easy understanding.

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