NILGIRI RHODODENDRON: A HIGH ALTITUDE MEDICINAL TREE EXPLORED FOR ITS ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY

The confined reports on Rhododendron arboreum Sm spp. nilagiricum (Zenker) Tagg stimulated to examine the bioactive compounds and the antimicrobial activity of its flower and bark extracts against medically critical human pathogenic microbes, apart from the availability of several reports on its main species R. arboreum. The microbial strains used for the study were four bacterial (Streptococcus pyogene, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae) and two fungal (Candida albicans and Trichoderma viride) strains. Agar well diffusion method is applied to assess the antimicrobial activity of the aqueous and methanol extracts of the plant sample. Various fractions of aqueous, ethanol, methanol and chloroform extracts confirmed the presence of alkaloids, phenols, flavanoids, tannins, saponins, terpenoids, steroids, carbohydrates, glycosides, amino acids and proteins. The methanol extract of flower revealed a promising antibacterial and antifungal activity against S. aureus and K. pneumoniae respectively. This study shows a broad and great therapeutic potential of the plant extract. However further studies are necessary for this potent plant extracts to evaluate the other parameters of antimicrobial efficacy.