A comparative study of antimicrobial effects of Clitoris ternatea and Anacardium occidentale leaf extracts against the selected microbes

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate a comparative study of antimicrobial efficacy of Clitoris ternatea and Anacardium occidentale leaf extract against Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Bacillus subtilis (Gram-positive), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia, Proteus vulgaris, and Salmonella typhi (Gram-negative) microbial strains. Ethanol extracts of both the leaf were evaluated against the experimental microbial strains using the well diffusion and agar disc diffusion methods. The present investigation showed that some microbial strains were more sensitive to Clitoris ternatea as compared to Anacardium occidentale and vice versa. But on the whole the Clitoris ternatea was found to be more effective than Anacardium occidentale. It is concluded that both the extracts showed antimicrobial activity due to the presence of bioactive phytochemicals present in them.