Study of the Antimicrobial potential of some Ethno-medicinal plants from High altitude areas of North West Himalayan Garhwal region, Uttarakhand State, India

Objectives: Plants are meant to have treasures of miraculous molecules of pharmacological importance. The present study was confined to understand the antimicrobial potential of medicinal plants of high altitude region of North West Himalayan Garhwal region. Methods: The antimicrobial activity was determined via well diffusion method of plant extracts of plants viz. Andrographis paniculata, Artemis annua, Xanthium strumarium, Rheum australes and Valeriana jatamansi prepared in different solvents as per increasing polarity viz hexane, methanol and water. The Minimum inhibitory concentration was also determined of the potent antimicrobial extracts against E. coli, S. aureus, B. subtilis, A. niger, S. cerevisiae and C. albicans. Findings: The results of the study suggests the significant antimicrobial potential of plant extracts of the plants a doses of 85.0 to 180.0 micro gram/ml. The study provides a way to identify the active principles/ molecules such as alkaloids, flavonoid, phenol in the plant extracts and to isolate and characterize the active molecules responsible for antimicrobial spectrum. The present study is one of its kind to screen the medicinal plants of high altitude region and to determine their microbial potential against variety of pathogens. Novelty: The results of the study is novel and unique of its kind and is not published anywhere.