Evaluation of anti-bacterial activity of Dashapushpam in the form of Ghritham

Abstract

The state Kerala in India is famous for its plant resource both culturally and medicinally. There is a cluster of ten sacred medicinal plants commonly known as Dashapushpam. These herbs are of great importance in the cold rainy season. Each plant of this group possesses many medicinal values. There are many formulations using these herbs. Ancient people knew the value of using these herbs in a cluster, so they included them in their diet to improve immunity in the monsoon season. There are many Ayurvedic texts which mention the uses of these sacred herbs. Formulations that use all the members of Dashapushpam are rare. The Dasapushpagritham is one such formulation taken from the text vishavaidhya jyostnika. The present work intends to evaluate the anti-bacterial property of Dashapushpam when used in an Ayurvedic formulation known as Dasapushpa Ghritham. The bacterial strains used as the test micro-organisms for the study was Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus cereus. The method of the anti-bacterial evaluation was done through agar-gel diffusion technique. The samples including the plant extracts possessed a varying level of anti-bacterial activity against these two bacteria, and their values obtained were compared with standard antibiotic amoxicillin. Based on these results, it was concluded that the anti-bacterial property of the Ayurvedic drug Dasapushpa Ghritham has significant value when compared to the drug base and other individual plant extracts. Hence the present study proves the significant usage of the Dashapushpam plants in various therapeutics used as an anti-microbial agent.