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Pak. J. Bot., 47(4): 1587-1592, 2015.

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ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF NERIUM OLEANDER L. AND NICOTIANA TABACUM L.: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

ROHMA MALIK¹, TASVEER ZAHRA BOKHARI¹, MUHAMMAD FAHEEM SIDDIQUI², UZMA YOUNIS¹, MUHAMMAD ISHTIAQ HUSSAIN³ AND IMRAN AHMED KHAN⁴

Abstract: The antimicrobial activity of aqueous ethanolic extract of two plant species i.e. Nerium oleander L. and Nicotiana tabacum L. from Multan district were checked, against three pathogenic bacteria viz: Staphylococcus aureus (gram positive), Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa; (gram negative). Disc diffusion technique was used to check the antimicrobial activity. The bacterial strains under question were found susceptible to plant extracts. Nerium oleander and Nicotiana tabacum exhibited strong antibacterial action against tested bacteria. The ethanolic extract of Nerium oleander leaves showed highest antibacterial action against Pseudomonas aeruginosa at 900mg/ml concentration, whereas, Nicotiana tabacum showed maximum zones of inhibition against Staphylococcus aureus at 900mg/ml concentration. The results showed that the leaves extracts of these plants have great power as anti-microbial agents against these common bacterial isolates. However, for future pharmacological implication of these plants more research is needed for the isolation of active ingredient of these plants. The results obtained could be attributed to the differential environmental conditions on the ecology of these plants.

Key words: Antimicrobial effect, Nerium oleander, Nicotiana tabacum, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.

¹Institute of Pure and Applied Biology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan

²Department of Botany, University of Karachi. Karachi, 75270

³Centre for Plant Conservation, University of Karachi, Karachi 75270, Pakistan

⁴Department of Geography, University of Karachi, Karachi 75270, Pakistan.

Corresponding author’s e-mail: mfsiddiqui2011@yahoo.com: mfsiddiqui@uok.edu.pk