Antifungal Properties of Selected Medicinal Plants used by Bodo Tribes of Kokrajhar, BTR, Assam, India

The Kokrajhar district of BTR, Assam is the home of many ethnic forest dwellers. The Bodos are the major tribe of this region who live in close proximity to the forest. Since time immemorial Bodos used different medicinal plant to cure different ailments. Though numbers of plant species are used in traditional way but scientific study of many of them is not done yet in this region. Viewing this limitation an attempt has made to find out the antimicrobial properties of selected three numbers of commonly used plant species viz. Andrographis paniculata, Moringa oleifera and Psidium guajava. Antifungal activity of three selected plant species against Aspergillus sp. of onion was studied. Extract of compounds from studied plant species was done by using three different solvents viz. distilled water, ethanol and acetone. The antifungal activity of various plant extracts was screened against the test organism using Agar Well Diffusion Method. During study it was found that all the three numbers of investigated plant species have more or less antimicrobial efficacy. The ZOI (Zone of Inhibition) in aqueous extract found in studied plant species were 12 mm in A. paniculata, 10 mm in M. oleifera and P. guajava have 13mm . In ethanol extract A. paniculata 12 mm, M. oleifera 10 mm and P. guajava 14 mm was found. In acetone extract the ZOI was A. paniculata 8 mm, M. oleifera 9 mm and P. guajava 10mm. Out of three studied plant species the ethanol extract of Psidium guajava shows the highest ZOI of 14 mm against the test microorganism.