In vitro analysis of Cupressus sempervirens L. plant extracts antibaterial activity

The antibacterial activity of methanolic, ethanolic and ethyl acetate extracts of leaf of Cupressus sempervirens L. was determined on six bacteria, namely Staphylococcus aureus , Bacillus subtilis , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Escherichia coli , Klebsiella pneumoniae and Salmonella typhimurium using agar well diffusion method. Among the plant extracts, a significant antimicrobial activity was obtained by methanolic extracts followed by the ethyl acetate and ethanol extracts. The methanolic extract exhibited maximum inhibitory activity against K. pneumonia, B. subtilis and S. aureus . The ethanolic extract showed higher activity against P. aeruginosa . Greater inhibitory activity against S. typhimurium and E. coli was possessed by ethyl acetate extract of C. sempervirens . This study revealed that the C. sempervirens exhibited greater inhibitory activity against the tested bacterial strains and can be used in the cure of pathogenic diseases and improvement of crop growth. Key words: Extracts, tannins, berberine, Cupressus sempervirens L., agar. INTRODUCTION Medicinal plants provide inestimable projections for new drug discoveries because of the matchless availability of chemical range. The practice of herbal medicines in Asia signifies a long antiquity of human interactions with the environment (Sasidharan et al., 2011). Out of the total 4,22,000 flowering plants narrated from the world, more than 50,000 are consumed for medicinal drives (Waheed et al., 2011). One of the most serious threats to health is human pathogenic bacteria. In outlook of the bacterial infections and of the development of resistance towards many commercial antibiotics, plants pertinent a good source of novel antibiotic archetypes. Interest in a large number of traditional natural products has increased because of their antimicrobial properties. Modern analytical techniques have also been confirmed that these properties of plants are due to many active phytochemicals including emetine, quinine, berberine, tannins, alkaloids, flavanoids, terpenoids, carotenoids,