Antimicrobial Activity of Leaf, Stem and Root Extracts of Hemidesmus indicus Against Aquatic Pathogens

Abstract

The present study aimed to assess the antimicrobial activity of Hemidesmus indicus against aquatic pathogens. Hemidesmus indicus is a twining shrub with lactiferous branches that produces numerous bioactive compounds. Plant parts are commonly used in traditional medicine to treat a variety of diseases. A comparative evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of Hexane, Ethyl acetate, Ethanol and water extracts of leaf, stem ad root of the Hemidesmus indicus was tested against the aquatic pathogens including bacteria and fungi by standard agar well diffusion method. The results indicated that all the plant parts exhibited varying degrees of antimicrobial properties. However, among the selected parts the highest antimicrobial property was shown by root against the bacteria Streptococcus agalactiae (16 mm), Streptococcus iniae (12 mm), Aeromonas hydrophila (20 mm), Vibrio cholera (21 mm), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (19 mm), and the fungus Aspergillus niger (19 mm) and Candida albicans (15 mm). Whereas the ethyl acetate fractions of the leaf showed maximum inhibitory activity against aquatic pathogens next to the root and the aqueous extract of the stem exhibited strong inhibition against Vibrio cholera. The study confirmed that the ethyl acetate extract of the Hemidesmus indicus root has high antibacterial activity against fish pathogens meanwhile the ethanol extract exhibited high antifungal activity. The present investigation confirmed the efficacy of Hemidesmus indicus as a natural alternative to synthetic antibiotics making promising contributions to the field of drug discovery and tremendous scope in the field of aquaculture.