Studies on antibacterial potential and phytochemical screening of different extract of Achyranthes aspera

There is an alarming increase in the problem of resistance towards antibiotics amongst most of the pathogenic bacterial strains in recent years. This has drawn the attention of researchers around the world to search for novel and eco-friendly antibacterial compounds. Several biological sources have been explored in this respect but medicinal plants have taken a centre stage out of all. Plants have been known as a reservoir of number of bioactive compounds specially the antibacterial ones since time immemorial. Therefore, the present investigation was undertaken to analyze the antibacterial potential of the medicinal plant Achyranthes aspera. This study revealed that highest antibacterial activity was observed in the methanolic extract of stem against almost all test Bacteria. It showed maximum activity against E.coli (30 mm), followed by S. aureus (28 mm), Enterococcus sp.(25mm), Salmonella typhi ( 20 mm) and least activity was recorded in same extract against K.pneumoniae (6 mm). Four phytochemicals were screened in various solvent extracts. They are alkaloid, flavonoids, saponins and tannins.