Studies on antimicrobial efficacy of medicinal tuberous shrub Talinum cuneifolium.

Talinum cuneifolium (Vahl.) Willd. an erect shrub with subterranian tuber (Portulacaceae) is endowed with wide range of pharmacological activities. The antimicrobial efficacy of the plant is evaluated against three bacteria and two fungal species by disc diffusion method. Preliminary phytochemical screening was carried out among hexane, ethylacetate, methanolic extracts of leaf and roottuber for different potent chemicals. The leaf methanolic extract of T cuneifolium showed maximum effect on the growth of Proteus (25.8 mm) followed by Bacillus (24.62 mm) and E. coli (19.42 mm). The tuberous methanolic extract of T cuneifolium showed maximum effect on growth of Proteus (28.15 mm) followed by Bacillus (26.88 mm) and E. coli (24.51 mm). The Gram-positive bacterial strains (Bacillus) were more susceptible to the extractions of T cuneifolium as compared to Gram-negative bacteria (E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris and Klebsiella pneumoneia). The antifungal activity of selected plant leaf and root tubers exhibit pronounced activity against Candida albicans rather than Aspergillus niger. These studies showed that the methanolic extracts of T cuneifolium plant parts were certainly much better and powerful. This may be due to the better solubility of the action components in organic solvent.