EVALUATION OF ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF SYZYGIUM AROMATICUM, LAURUS NOBILIS AND CUMINUM CYMINUM EXTRACTS AND THEIR COMBINATION

Antibacterial agents are essential drugs for human health and welfare. Many pharmaceutical industries have produced a number of antibiotics and resistance to these drugs by microorganisms increased. This development of resistance has necessitated the search for new anti-bacterial agents. Medicinal plants like spices are considered as a good source of natural products for maintaining human health since decades. The use of these plant extracts with known antimicrobial properties can be of great significance in therapeutic treatments. The main objective is to study the antimicrobial activity of combined plant extracts and to screen their anti-bacterial efficacy with the individual plant extracts by using Disc diffusion method against 5 bacterial strains (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Proteus vulgaris). Aqueous extracts like Infusions and Decoctions from the following plants were prepared: Syzygium aromaticum (Clove), Laurus nobilis (Bay leaf), Cuminum cyminum (Cumin) and the comparison is made between individual extracts with the combined mixture of infusions and decoctions. The combination of three infusions was found to be more effective than combined decoction mixture of three spices in case of Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Bay leaf infusion was found to be the most promising extract in case of Pseudomonas aeruginosa when compared to all individual and combined mixture of infusions and decoctions.