EVALUATION OF IN VITRO ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY AND ESSENTIAL OIL COMPOSITION OF ETHANOL EXTRACT OF VIOLA ODORATA L. LEAVES

Viola odorata L. belongs to the Violeaceae family. It was used as a medicine to treat bronchitis, cystitis and tonsilities, nevertheless, exploration of scientific justifications behind its use can lead into developing new applications. Leaves of V. odorata L. was extracted using methanol and ethanol. Consequent extracts were tested for the antimicrobial activity and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) using the agar dilution method and the broth microdilution method respectively. Phytoconstituents isolates were also subjected to ensure their antimicrobial activity. Essential oil composition of methanol fraction of ethanol extract was analysed by GC-MS technique. Methanol and ethanol extracts of the leaves of V. odorata L. were found effective against all tested strains of bacteria whereas fungi showed resistance to all extracts. Ethanol extract exhibited higher inhibition against E. coli (10 mg/ml), Bacillus subtilis (20 mg/ml), Staphylococcus aureus (20 mg/ml) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (40 mg/ml). Isolated phytoconstituents also showed significant inhibition against all bacterial strains. Methanol and ethanol extract showed considerable inhibition against all tested bacteria. The GC-MS analysis of active fraction revealed the presence of Pentane 2,3,4- Trimethyl (45%), NHexadecanoic acid (28.85%), 10- Undecyn-1-ol (14.43%) and Pentadecanoic acid (8.14%). These results provide scientific justification for traditional use of V. odorata L. for the W