Antimicrobial activity of selected medicinal plants of Margalla Hills, Islamabad, Pakistan

The present studies focus on the antimicrobial activities of the crude methanolic extracts of different plant parts of thirteen selected medicinal plants namely: Woodfordia fruiticosa, Adhatoda vasica, Chenopodium ambrosoides, Viburnum cotinifolium, Euphorbia hirta, Vitex negundo, Peganum harmala, Broussonetia papyrifera, Taraxacum officinale, Urtica dioica, Verbascum thapsus, Caryopteris grata and Mimosa rubicaulis collected from Margalla Hills Islamabad, Pakistan against four Gram positive namely: Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Micrococcus luteus and Enterococcus faecalis and five Gram negative namely: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klibsella pneumonia, Vibrio cholera and Enterobacter coccus bacterial strains. The fungal strains used were Aspergilus niger, Aspergilus flavus, Aspergilus fumigates and Rhyzoctonia solani. Woodfordia fruiticosa, Chenopodium ambrosoides, Viburnum cotinifolium, Euphorbia hirta, Vitex negundo and M. rubicaulis exhibited higher antibacterial activity showing minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values as 1 mg/ml against E. faecalis and E. coccus. E. hirta was most affective against E. coli by inhibiting the growth showing MIC value of 1.0 mg/ml. Maximum antifungal activity against A. niger was exhibited by C. grata (87.77%) followed by E. hirta (79.72%) and V. cotinifolium (72.39%), respectively. A. vasica showed greater inhibitory properties (89.50%) against A. fumigates. Maximum inhibitory activity against R. solani was shown by V. negundo (100%). V. cotinifolium exhibited maximum activity against A. flavus (88.93%) and A. fumigates (82.6%).