PHYTOCHEMICAL, ANTIOXIDANT, ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITIES OF NERVILIA CROCIFORMIS (ZOLL. & MORITZI) SEIDENF. AND NERVILIA INFUNDIBULIFOLIA BLATT. & MC CANN (ORCHIDACEAE) COLLECTED FROM KASARGOD DISTRICT, KERALA, INDIA

The whole plant extracts of N. crociformis and N. infundibulifolia was analyzed by priliminary phytochemical, total phenolics, flavonoid, carbohydrate and alkaloid content by standard methods. In-vitro antioxidant DPPH assay and Phosphomolybdenum assay developed by Braca et al., Prieto et al., respectively. In-vitro antibacterial (agar well diffusion) activity by gram negative Pseudomonas aeroginosa (ATCC 27853), gram positive (Streptococcus mutans MTCC 890 & Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Esteritia coli ATCC 25922) and antifungal activity by Aspergillus niger (ATCC 16404). The study shows that the petroleum ether, chloroform, ethanol and aqueous extract of the plants contains a good number of phytochemicals such as flavonoid, cardiac glycoside, saponin, alkaloid etc. as well as antioxidant with respect to the scavenging activity against free radicals DPPH  which were roughly comparable to that of BHT. The plant extracts also exhibited potent antimicrobial activity against S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, S. mutans, E. coli and A. niger indicating its bactericidal and fungicidal properties. It may be concluded that the plant Nervilia crociformis is chemically more active than Nervilia infundibulifolia.