Abstract Medicinal plants function as natural sources of therapeutic agents because they contain numerous phytochemical compounds which exhibit antimicrobial effects. The present study aimed to evaluate the phytochemical constituents and antibacterial activity of selected medicinal plants, namely Azadirachta indica (Neem), Ocimum sanctum (Tulsi), and Psidium guajava (Guava). Leaf extracts were prepared using ethanol extraction, and qualitative phytochemical screening to detect the presence of bioactive compounds which included alkaloids and flavonoids and tannins and saponins and phenols and glycosides and terpenoids. The agar well diffusion method to assess how effective the plant extracts were against both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The results showed that all plant extracts exhibited antibacterial activity. Neem demonstrated the highest activity with zones of inhibition of 18 mm against E. coli and 20 mm against S. aureus, followed by Guava (15 mm and 16 mm) and Tulsi (12 mm and 14 mm), respectively. The study concludes that Neem possesses the strongest antibacterial potential among the selected plants, highlighting the importance of medicinal plants as effective and eco-friendly alternatives to synthetic antibiotics.
Prajwalatha Yandrapati (Thu,) studied this question.