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Abstract

Interest in medicinal plant as a re-emerging health aid has been fuelled by the rising cost of prescription drug in the maintenance of personal health. In present work an attempt has been made to carry out antimicrobial activity of bryonia laciniosa plant, used in Indian folk medicine. The aim of the study was to grow in vitro callus from bryonia laciniosa from leaf explants and its microbial activity. Antibacterial effect of Bryonia laciniosa was evaluated on bacterial strains like Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacter aerogenes, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. The solvents used for the extraction of plants were water and methanol. The in vitro antibacterial activity was performed by agar disc diffusion. The most susceptible bacteria was K. pneumoniae. The extracts of callus and plant material could not inhibit any of the bacterial strains investigated. Callus was induced from leaf explants in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with different combinations of auxin and cytokinin growth regulators. The Callus was induced in MS medium with 2, 4-D (3mg/l) and kinetin (1mg/l) showing Greenish yellow callus, but the callus induced in MS medium with 2, 4-D (3mg/l) and BAP (3mg/l) was brown in colour. The results obtained in the present study suggest that Bryonia laciniosa can be used in treating diseases caused by the test organisms and for production of mass number of plants. This type of work was conducted first time in India.