Evaluation of Antibacterial Activity of Annona squamosa, Psidium guajava and Azadirachta indica against Pathogenic Bacterial Cultures

A b s t r a c t K e y w o r d s Medicinal plants are part and parcel of human society to combat diseases, from the dawn of civilization. Plants are being considered as important source of medicine. There has growing demand for plant based medicines, health products, pharmaceuticals, food supplements, cosmetics etc. Drug resistance is a serious global problem, and spread of resistance poses additional challenges for clinicians and the pharmaceutical industry. Keeping these facts in view this study was carried out to evaluate antimicrobial Activity of Annona squamosa (Custard apple), Psidium guajava (Guava), Azadirachta indica (Neem) against pathogenic cultures of Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial strains. Plant samples were collected from road side plants at Gwalior (M.P) and evaluated for their antimicrobial activity through disc diffusion assay technique. Result was interpreted by measuring zone of inhibition. All the plant samples were treated by standard protocol and extracts were kept under the rotary evaporator at 50°C. Result interpretation was done on the basis of zone of inhibition created due to the antibacterial properties of the plant extracts which was compared with positive and negative control respectively. This study was an effort to prove the use of herbal medicines in the developed world because they are rich source of novel drugs and their bioactive principles form the basis in medicine, nutraceuticals, pharmaceutical intermediates and lead compounds in synthetic drugs. Screening medicinal plants for biologically active compounds offers clues to develop newer antimicrobial agents. These compounds after possible chemical manipulation provide new and improved drugs to treat the infectious diseases. Plant based products/ extracts are cheaper alternatives to the development of synthetic