Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Successive solvent extract viz., petroleum ether, chloroform, benzene, methanol, ethanol and water extracts of Medicago sativa was evaluated for antibacterial activity, against seven important bacterial strains by agar-well diffusion method. Methanol extract showed significant activity against all the tested bacteria followed by chloroform and ethanol extract. Benzene and Petroleum ether extracts did not show any significant activity. The antibacterial activity is more significant in solvent extracts compared to aqueous extract in all the plants indicating that the active principle responsible for antibacterial activity is more soluble in organic solvents. The results suggest that Medicago sativa is scientifically validate the use of this plant in the traditional medicine for isolation and characterization of the active principle for further exploitation in medical microbiology.
Keywords: Medicago sativa, Antibacterial activity, Methanol, Well diffusion, Phytochemical analysis