Abstract
This work was designed to study the antimicrobial activity of Crotalaria bernieri Baill. (Fabaceae). Extracts from leaf, root, pod and seed using hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol were tested in vitro for their activity against 17 bacteria, 5 fungi (3 yeasts and 2 molds) using disc diffusion and micro dilution methods. At the concentration of 1 mg/disc, all the extracts exhibited antimicrobial activity depending on the plant part and the extraction method used. The most sensitive germs were Salmonella enteridis, Streptococcus pyogenes and Candida guilliermondii with inhibition zone diameter (IZD) of 11 mm, 15 mm and 13 mm respectively. Most of extracts showed, broad activity spectrum varying from one extract to another. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of all extracts were recorded. Ten extracts displayed an excellent effect (MIC 1000 µg/ml). Leaf methanol extracts were the most efficient and Gram positive bacteria the most sensitive. All extracts had bactericidal (MBC/MIC ≤ 4) or fungicidal action (MFC/MIC ≤ 4) in certain microorganisms and bacteriostatic (MBC/MIC > 4) or fungistatic action (MFC/MIC > 4) in others. Antimicrobial activity might be due to tannins, polyphenols, steroids, triterpenes and flavonoids that were present in most of the plant organs, but alkaloids in leaf and pod and saponosides in root might also be involved. C. bernieri with the effectiveness of all its parts, the variety of its secondary metabolites, the great number of sensitive pathogen microorganisms and its ubiquity make this plant species an interesting source of antimicrobial agents. Key words: Crotalaria bernieri, antimicrobial activity, disc diffusion method, microdilution method, minimum inhibitory concentration, minimum bactericidal concentration, minimum fungicidal concentration.
Highlights
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the world’s most serious public health problems
Many studies led to systematic screening of plant extracts as a source of antibacterial compounds (Dalmarco et al, 2010; Stefanovic and Comic, 2011)
Crotalaria madurensis is active against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans (Bhakshu et al, 2008), Crotalaria capensis against Salmonella typhimurium (Dzoyem et al, 2014), Crotalaria burhia against B. subtilis and S. aureus (Sandeep et al, 2010; Mansoor et al, 2011), Crotalaria juncea against S. aureus (Chouhan and Sushil, 2010), Crotalaria pallida against E. coli and Pseudomonas sp (Pelegrini et al, 2009), and Cladophora trichotoma against Alternaria solani (Ravikumar and Rajkumar, 2013)
Summary
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the world’s most serious public health problems. Many studies led to systematic screening of plant extracts as a source of antibacterial compounds (Dalmarco et al, 2010; Stefanovic and Comic, 2011). Several Crotalaria species have been reported to display antimicrobial properties. Crotalaria madurensis is active against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans (Bhakshu et al, 2008), Crotalaria capensis against Salmonella typhimurium (Dzoyem et al, 2014), Crotalaria burhia against B. subtilis and S. aureus (Sandeep et al, 2010; Mansoor et al, 2011), Crotalaria juncea against S. aureus (Chouhan and Sushil, 2010), Crotalaria pallida against E. coli and Pseudomonas sp (Pelegrini et al, 2009), and Cladophora trichotoma against Alternaria solani (Ravikumar and Rajkumar, 2013)
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