Antibacterial, Insecticidal Activity and Cytotoxicity of Methanol, Ethanol, Hot Aqueous and Cold Aqueous Extracts of Crotalaria juncea L

Water and alcoholic extracts of Crotalaria juncea L. plant were tested for their antimicrobial properties in vitro against some selected human pathogenic bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus by agar well diffusion method and were subjected to brine shrimp lethality assay to detect their cytotoxic ability. In addition, the anticancer properties of these extracts were tested by cytotoxicity assay on HeLa cell line. In case of the antibacterial assay, hot aqueous extract had an average inhibitory zone of 14 mm while it was 10 mm in case of cold aqueous extract. The Ethanol extract showed the highest activity against the tested microorganisms.For insecticidal assay, in the first 24h, the hatching of eggs was significantly prevented with increasing concentration of both the alcoholic extracts. Brine shrimp lethality assay indicate that after 24h, live Artemia started dying in direct proportion with increasing concentration of alcoholic extracts. Cell toxicity assay indicate its cytotoxic nature on cancer cells. Results of this study show that ethanol and methanol extracts have more potency of antibacterial, antilarvicidal, and anticancer agent than hot and cold aqueous extracts of Crotalaria juncea. Antibacterial assay Brine shrimp lethality assay