Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of Mimosaceae plants; Acacia modesta Wall (Phulai), Prosopis cineraria (Linn.) and Prosopis juliflora (Swartz)

In the present study the methanolic leaf extracts of three plant species of familyMimosaceae viz., Acacia modesta Wall (Phulai), Prosopis cineraria (Linn.) Druce andProsopis juliflora (Swartz) DC. were used to evaluate their antibacterial antifungal and antioxidant activity. Simple maceration method was used for the preparation of plant extracts. The extracts were tested against four strains of bacteria (Bacillus subtilis,Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholera and Enterobacter aerogenes) and two strains of fungi (Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus fumigatus). At 15 mg/ml extract concentration the maximum inhibitory zones observed in Acacia modesta, P. cineraria and P. juliflora were 20, 18 and 25 mm, respectively. P. cineraria gave best response against A. niger and A. fumigatus by producing 15.38 and 8% inhibition, respectively. P. juliflora showed 7.69% inhibition against A. niger. While A. modesta showed 11.53% activity against A. niger and 0.8% against A. fumigatus. The Antioxidant activities of these medicinal plants also showed significant results. Maximum radical scavenging activity (%RSA) was observed in P. cineraria and P. juliflora, that is, 60.48 and 47.82%, respectively, as compared to A. modesta which gave minimum %RSA value of 41.42%.   Key words: Medicinal plants, Mimosaceae plants, methanol extracts, antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant.