Screening of Antimicrobial Activity of Fenugreek Seeds

The pharmaceutical industry has produced a large number of new antibiotics over the last three decades, but resistance to these antibiotics by microorganisms has increased. Statistically, WHO estimates that medicinal plants are the primary medicine for 2/3 of the world’s population. Recent studies focus on plant research all over the world to extract appropriate and efficient antimicrobial drugs. Fenugreek (Trigonella foenumgraecum Linn.) is an annual herb which has widely been consumed throughout the world as a food, a food additive and in the traditional remedies science civilizations. This study was aimed preliminary to investigate in vitro antimicrobial activity of fenugreek seeds against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and other microorganisms such as Escherichia coli (E. coli), Proteus vulgaris (P. vulgaris), Staphylococcus aureus (St. aureus), Candida albicans (C. albicans), Staphylococcus epidermis (St. epidermis), Staphylococcus saprophyticus (St. saprophyticus) using two different solvents: aqueous extractions (cold, hot & boiling) and methanol extractions. The antimicrobial activities were evaluated using two different methods: agar disc diffusion and agar-well diffusion method. The results indicated that only the boiling water extract contains the antimicrobial active ingredients of fenugreek seeds, while both cold water extract and methanol extract are not suitable for such purposes.