Antibacterial and antifungal study of Cichorium intybus

Therapeutic or medicinal plants are very beneficial for economic and therapeutic purposes. These plants contain active constituents which are used for the rehabilitation of many human diseases. These constituents are isolated and used against various pathogens[1,2]. Cichorium intybus (C. intybus ) seeds have been successfully used in Ayurvedic and Unani systems of medicine. It is one of the important medicinal plant belonging to Asteraceae family. C. intybus is a small scented biennial or perennial herb containing a number of medicinally imperative compounds, such as insulin, esculin, volatile compounds (sesquiterpenes and monoterpenes), vitamins, flavonoids and coumarins[3]. It contains number of medicinally important phytochemicals like carbohydrate, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, tannins, saponins, steroids and volatile oils. The root contains sesqui-terpene lactones like lactucin and lactucopicrin, flavonoids like quercetin3-galactose, inulin, phlobaphenes, caffeic acid, cichoric acid, pectin, fixed oils, cholin and reducing sugar. The seed contains triterpenes cichoridiol and intybusoloid along with 11 known compounds such as lupeol, fridelin, beta sitosterol, sigmasterol, betulinic acid, betunaldehyde, syringic acid and vanilic acid. The volatile components include octane, n-nanodecane, pentadecanone, hexadecane and pentasalicylate. The pharmacological actions revealed that it possesses anticarcinogenic, hypoglycemic, hepatoprotective and anti-ulcer potentials[4]. Currently, multiple drug resistance has been urbanized due to the random and frequent use of cost-effective antimicrobial drugs in the handling of contagious diseases. Besides, antibiotics are occasionally allied with harmful effects on the host, including allergic reactions, hypersensitivity and immune suppression. These circumstances enforced scientists to investigate for novel antimicrobial compounds. Accordingly, there is a demand to extend substitute antimicrobial drugs for the treatment of diseases from medicinal plants. There are numerous screening investigations on the antimicrobial activity of ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT