Antimicrobial activity of Celosia argentea L. in the Hyderabad Karnataka region

Abstract

Celosia argentea is a herbaceous plant and belongs to Amaranthaceae family that grow in a terrestrial habitat. Plant show simple and spirally arranged leaves, flowers are often pinkish or white colour, fruits are in globular shape and seeds are black. The C. argentea has great medicinal value, used in the treatment of fatigue, leucorrhoea, atherosclerosis and osteoporosis and the seeds have been used for reducing the “liver heat”, improving the eye sight, clearing wind heat and as an anti- inflammatory agent. In the present study the antibacterial and antifungal activity of C. argentea stem and root using the chloroform and methanol extracts were evaluated from the Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans and A. Niger. A total of 4 microorganisms (2 bacteria and 2 fungal strains) were used for the antimicrobial activity. The results shows that, antimicrobial activity of C. argentea reported to confer resistance against microbial pathogens and thus explains the manifestation of antibacterial activity by the stem and root extracts. The extract obtained acts as a potential source for biological antibacterial activity against selective bacteria stains S. aureus and E. coli. Significant antibacterial and antifungal activity was obtained by comparing with the standard Ciprofloxacin and Amphotericin respectively.