In Vitro Antibacterial and Antifungal Activity of Methanol, Chloroform and Aqueous Extracts of Origanum vulgare and Their Comparative Analysis

The work reports antibacterial and antifungal activity of different solvent extracts of Origanum vulgare. The antimicrobial activity of methanol, chloroform and aqueous extracts were determined against nine different gram negative and gram positive bacterial strains and three fungal stains. The bacterial strains were Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 6633), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 29213), Micrococcus luteus (ATCC 9341), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 33347), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Salmonella typhi (ATCC 19430), Shigella flexneri (ATCC 25929), Salmonella para typhi A (ATCC 9150) and Proteus mirabilis (ATCC 49565) and fungal strains were Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus nigar and Aspergillus pterus. Agar well diffusion method was followed in this study. The comparative analysis of antibacterial activity reflects that among these three extracts, chloroform and methanol extracts shows promising result by exhibiting maximum antibacterial activity, whereas aqueous extract is not active against most of these strains. The analysis of antifungal activity reveals chloroform extract as most efficacious unlike methanol and Aqueous extracts.