Comparative antioxidant and antibacterial properties of different plant parts of a medicinally impor tant tree, Simarouba glauca DC.

Different parts of Simarouba glauca DC, an important ethnomedicinal tree, were collected from the Kanchikeri forest, Harappanahallitaluk, Vijayanagara district, Karnataka, India and subjected to investigation for its phytochemical constituents, antioxidant and antibacterial properties.The extract's preliminary phytochemical screening results revealed that phenols were detected irrespective of the plant part studies, while glycosides and anthraquinones were absent in all the extracts evaluated.Besides, total phenolic, antioxidant activity and reducing power assay offered a concentration-oriented increase in the activity, with maximum activity noted in methanol extract of leaflet with rachis.The antibacterial studies indicated that all the solvent extracts offered inhibition against selected test pathogens.The methanol extract of leaflet with rachis offered maximum inhibition against the test pathogens with an MIC of 0.625 mg/ ml for Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtils, whereas 1.25 mg/ ml for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, followed by chloroform extract.Overall, the study results justify the utilization of Simarouba glauca as a potential candidate for future drug discovery in the enhancement of bioactive metabolites of interest while simultaneously conserving the ethnomedicinally important tree.