Abstract

EVALUATION OF ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF SOLVENT EXTRACTS OF VALLARIS SOLANACEA AGAINST ASPERGILLUS FLAVUS

Pragnyasini Rout and Sunita Bhatnagar*

Abstract

Vallaris solanacea is a climbing ornamental shrub which is used mainly for the treatment of gastrointestinal ailments, fever, malaria, pain, and diabetes. In the present study solvent leaf extracts were explored for antifungal activity against Aspergillus flavus. Four leaf extracts namely hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts were prepared. Chloroform and ethyl acetate exhibited mild activity in the methods i.e, radical growth and agar diffusion method, but hexane extract showed 35% reduction in biomass of the fungus in agar diffusion method. Although methanol extract was not active in any of the method but it reduced the aflatoxin content by 69% when compared with control samples. Thus all the extracts had antifungal activity in one way or other.

Keywords: Vallaris solanacea, antifungal activity, solvent extracts, radical growth method.