Evaluation of Antifungal Activity in Different Epigeic Earthworm Species

Abstract

Medicinal value of earthworms has been known since centuries, this is evident from history of ancient southeastern countries like China, Japan and Vietnam. The present study was carried out to evaluate antifungal activity by using different epigeic earthworm species, Eudrilus eugeniae, Eiseina fetida, Perionyx excavates and standard drug Itraconazole as positive control against Candida albicans, The agar well diffusion method was used for antifungal assay maintained at 37 °C for 24 hrs. The results of the present study revealed that antifungal activity i.e. Zone of Inhibition was more in Eudrilus eugeniae (EE) followed by Perionyx exacavatus (PE) but no antifungal activity was observed in Eisenia fetida (EF). Again zone of inhibition in EE was comparatively more (15.33±0.33) at 10μg/ml concentration than that of 20μg/ml (10.33±0.33) and 30µg/ml (10.66±0.33) respectively, whereas antifungal activity was only seen in 30 µg/ml (11.33±0.33) in PE. Further, antifungal activities of EE & PE were comparatively less than that of standard drug (Itraconazole) as positive control at 5µg/ml in the present study. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the samples of EE showed much higher antifungal activity as compared to with other two species PE & EF. The present study also suggests that the biomolecules or bioactive compounds present in particular earthworm tissue are going to inuence against various pathogenic microorganisms, such earthworms can be useful in further purication of biomolecules that can be used for new drug discovery in pharmaceutical applications.