Abstract

EVALUATION OF ANTIMICROBIAL POTENTIAL AND PHYTOCHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS IN LEAF EXTRACTS OF JATROPHA CURCAS L.

*Dhairyasheel B. Patil, Prakash V. Gaikwad, Prajakta J. Patil, Sonali B. Patil, Ganesh Davari and Sharad B. Bhamburdekar

Abstract

In the present study, the in vitro antimicrobial activity of crude acetone, methanol and aqueous extracts of the leaves of Jatropha curcas L. were investigated. The Jatropha curcas is a one of the most important medicinal plant having various medicinal properties. The results obtained in agar well diffusion method indicated that, the acetone extract was most susceptible against Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi and E. coli. The aqueous extracts were found to be effective against Salmonella typhi and Staphylococcus aureus while, ineffective against E. coli strain. The phytochemical analysis of leaf extracts of Jatropha curcas revealed the presence of many important secondary metabolites including, flavonoids, saponin, alkaloids, tannin, terpenoids and cardiac glycoside. Thus results of phytochemical and antimicrobial study have shown that, the Jatropha curcas acts as promising plant for the developing new herbal antibiotics to cure various bacterial infections.

Keywords: Antibacterial, phytochemical, Jatropha curcas.