Abstract

Current investigation has been carried out to evaluate antimicrobial potential of an indigenous medicinal herb Rubus fruticosus fruit, leaves, root and stem. Crude methanolic extracts were screened against eight bacterial strains for example Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Streptococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis, Micrococcus luteus, Citrobacter, Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa by Kirby-Bauer method. Leaves showed zone of inhibition at minimum dose level, root extract has comparable results to the standard Ampicillin applied. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values against bacteria were determined, the stem extract has 20 µg against all strains tested, the rest has different MIC values against different strains. The order of potency on MIC basis is stem> root> leaves> fruit. The antifungal activity were monitored against nine pathogenic fungal strains, Aspergilus parasiticus, Aspergilus niger, Yersinia aldovae, Candida albicans, Aspergillus effusus, Fusarium solani, Macrophomina phaseolina, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Trichophyton rubrum, but there is no significant antifungal activity.

Key words: Rubus fruticosus, antimicrobial screening, minimum inhibitory concentration.