ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF MEIZOTROPIS PELLITA (PATWA) AGAINST GRAMS POSITIVE AND GRAMS NEGATIVE BACTERIA.

Meizotropis pellita (Fabaceae family), an endangered plant commonly known as Patwa was screened for potential antimicrobial activity against medically important bacterial strains, namely Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus Streptococcus pyogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. The antimicrobial activity was determined in alcoholic and aqueous extract using agar well diffusion method. The alcoholic extracts have shown antimicrobial activity while aqueous extract was inactive against all the tested bacterial strains. E.coli was the most resistant strain while Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes were most sensitive bacterial strains. The results of the study suggest that the plant contain some important bioactive compounds which can be used for development of new herbal drugs.