TITLE:
Antifungal Activity and Qualitative Phytochemical Analysis of Some Medicinal Plants in Jaffna (Sri Lanka)
AUTHORS:
Tharmarajah Manoranjan, Reeka Thangarajah, A. C. Thavaranjit
KEYWORDS:
Leucas zeylanica, Ocimum canum, Ocimum sanctum, Mentha arvensis, Ocimum basilicum, Antifungal Activity
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Organic Chemistry,
Vol.8 No.4,
October
25,
2018
ABSTRACT: Many
members of the Labiatae family are used in traditional and folk medicine and
also used as culinary and ornamental plants. Leaves are the most used plants
parts of this family. Ethanolic extract of the leaves, stem, seeds of Leucas zeylanica, Ocimum canum, Ocimum sanctum and
leaves of Mentha arvensis, Ocimum basilicum were subjected to
phytochemical screening and antifungal assays against Aspergillus sp., Penicillium sp., Trichoderma sp., Mucor sp., Rhizopus sp. was
determined by using the agar streaking assay method after 48 and 72 hours of
incubation. All parts of the plants were found to contain flavonoid/s and
alkaloid/s except for the absence of alkaloids in seeds of L. zeylanica and stem of O. sanctum respectively. Tannins were present
in all parts of plants such as L. zeylanica, O. canum, M. arvensis and absent in O. sanctum and O. basilicum.
Phlobatannins were only present in leaves of L. zeylanica and saponins were present only in leaves of O. basilicum. The leaves of L. zeylanica, O. basilicum, M. arvensis, O. sanctum and seeds of O. sanctum and O. canum showed the presence
of steroids. Terpenoids were present in all parts of O. sanctum and O. canum than the other plants. The
cardiac glycosides were present in all parts of O. sanctum than the other
plants tested. Leaves of O. sanctum and M. arvensis exhibited
strong positive antifungal activity against Aspergillus sp. Leaves of O. canum, O. basilicum and M. arvensis and stem of O. canum showed strong positive activity against Mucor sp. L. zeylanica only exhibited the antifungal
activity against Mucor sp. Penicillium sp. was inhibited by the leaves and
seeds extracts of O. sanctum. Degree of activity was low in L. zeylanica compared with other plant extracts. Most of these plant parts did
not show any activity against Trichoderma sp. and Rhizopus sp. This study
revealed that the antifungal activity of leaves of these plants was high than
other plant parts against tested fungi.