Phytochemical, trace metals assessment and antimicrobial efficacy of Barleria cristata

Abstract

Traditional plants contains various secondary metabolites which have shown significant pharmacological activity. In the present paper, we analysed the phytochemical, trace metal and antimicrobial activity of ethanolic leaf extracts of Barleria cristata. The significance of high antimicrobial activity due to their presence of secondary metabolites in this herb. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of steroids, triterpenes, alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, saponin, tannins and amino acid. The antimicrobial activity of B.cristata ethanol extract was examined with six various pathogenic microorganisms such as gram positive, gram negative and fungal strains using the disk diffusion test. The two tested concentrations such as 0.60 and 1.20 mg/disc produce zone of inhibition on Muller Hinton Agar (MHA) and Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) plates for bacteria and fungi, respectively. In this study, higher (1.20 mg) concentration got greater sensitivity than lower (0.60 mg) concentration against all strains. The trace metal analyses of the plants were also carried out. The mean concentration of trace metals such as cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) were 0.05, BDL, 0.07, 0.88, BDL, 0.23 and 0.24 mg kg ^-1 , respectively. Therefore, it is signified that B.cristata plant extract is safe to be used as an antimicrobial agent.