Antimicrobial, antioxidant and GC-MS profiling of Rumex obtusifolius L. an important ethnomedicinal plant of Himachal Pradesh in North Western Himalaya

Abstract

Himachal Pradesh, a western Himalayan state is a rich store house of medicinal plants. The ethnic people of the state have great faith in use of medicinal herbs. The ethnomedicinal plant Rumex obtusifolius L. was collected from the Shimla hills of Himachal Pradesh, India in North Western Himalayas and analysed for its antimicrobial, antioxidant and phytochemical properties. The ethanolic extract of the roots of the plant was analysed against the standard and clinical isolates of five microbial strains viz. Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella typhimurium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The root extract showed maximum inhibition against clinical isolate of Staphylococcus aureus (14.5±0.081) at 200 μg/ml concentration. The maximum antioxidant activity (0.089±0.058) of plant extract was observed at 75 μg/ml concentration and minimum (0.048±0.074) at 15 μg/ml concentration. Standard analysis of phytochemicals in the plant showed the presence of terpenoids, flavonoids, tannins, cardiac glycosides, alkaloids, reducing sugars and saponins. In GC MS profiling the plant extract showed presence of important compounds possessing antibacterial, anticancerous and antidiabetic properties.