In Vitro Screening of Antibacterial Potentiality of Some Important Flowers’ Extracts Against Some Pathogenic Bacteria

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to screen and evaluate the antibacterial activities of different flowers, namely, Calendula officinalis, Rosa damacena, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Datura stramonium, Bougainvillea stabilis, and Vinca rosea. These flowers were screened for potential antibacterial activity against some important bacterial Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria strains, namely Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus, and E. faecalis. Dried leaf powder of the flowers was successively extracted with aqueous, alcoholic, methanolic, and petroleum ether extracts. All extracts were screened for antibacterial activity using agar Kirby–Bauer Method, disc diffusion, and agar well diffusion method. Piperacidin and Gentamycin (5 μg/ml) were used as standards. The flower extracts that showed high antimicrobial activity were subjected to a minimum inhibitory concentration assay by two fold dilutions method. Although each plant flower showed significant antibacterial activity, the highest antibacterial activity was observed in the alcoholic extract of Hibiscus petals against three tested bacterial strains. But it showed zero antimicrobial activity against Salmonella typhi. Methanolic extract of Bougainvillea petals showed strong activity against each tested bacterial strain. Therefore, it can be selected for further investigation to determine its MIC and therapeutic potential against Salmonella typhi as it showed good in vitro antibacterial activity.