EVALUATION OF ANTI-MICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF IN VITRO AND IN VIVO PLANT PARTS OF MERREMIA DISSECTA AND MERREMIA AEGYPTIA

The present study deals with the evaluation of the antimicrobial activity in methanolic extracts of in vivo (leaf, stem and seed) and in vitro (callus) plant parts of Merremia dissecta and Merremia aegyptia belonging to family Convolvulaceae. The antimicrobial activity against six different microbial strains, four bacterial viz. Bacillus thuringiensis, Bacillus subtilis, Eschrechia coli and Pseudomonas putida and two fungal strains viz. Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger was studied. Initially, plant extracts prepared in four different solvents (Aqueous, Methanol, Ethanol, and Petroleum Ether) were screened for their antimicrobial activity through TTZ test (Tetrazolium Chloride Test). It was assessed that alcoholic sample extracts possessed highest antimicrobial activity amongst all. Later the antimicrobial activity of the methanolic extracts was confirmed using Disc-Agar Diffusion technique. The inhibition zone observed was representative of the antimicrobial potency of that particular sample extract. Zones of inhibition ranging from 6mm to 14mm were observed. The largest zones of inhibition were observed from the leaf extracts of these plants and the leaf extract of Merremia aegyptia also showed high antifungal activity as compared to other extracts.