Antibacterial and antifungal potential of some medicinal plants against certain phytopathogenic micro-organisms

Aqueous extracts of 35 medicinal plants from different families were tested for their antimicrobial potential against six important phytopathogenic micro-organisms viz. Pseudomonas syringae, Xanthonomonas axonopodis, Rhizoctonia solani, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus nidulans, causing considerable yield loss. Among the 35 plants tested, aqueous extracts of 16 plants have recorded significant antibacterial and antifungal potential against one or the other species tested. Findings of the present study conclude that the antimicrobials of plant origin are responsible for significant reduction in bacterial and fungal pathogens, and thus, they prove to be good sources of bioactive compounds. However, further experiments are currently in progress to isolate and purify active antimicrobials.