Fruit and vegetable peels – strong natural source of antimicrobics

Infectious diseases are leading cause of death world wide due to multidrug resistant strains of bacteria, reduced susceptibility to antimicrobics and increase in untreatable bacterial infections. Natural products provide unlimited opportunities for new drug leads because of the unmatched availability of chemical diversity. Because of increasing threat of infectious diseases, the need of the hour is to find natural agents with novel mechanism of action. Fruit and vegetable peels are thrown into the environment as agro waste which can be utilized as a source of antimicrobics. It will be economic, eco friendly and reduce pollution. Here we report the antimicrobial activity of peels of seven fruit and vegetables against 11 microorganisms. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated by agar well diffusion method. The Mangifera indica peel showed best and promising antimicrobial activity. This study will definitely open, scope for future utilization of the waste products for therapeutic purpose.