Preliminary Phytochemical Screening and Antimicrobial Activity of Citrullus Colocynthis.(linn.) Schared

Citrullus colocynthis (Linn). Schred is an important medicinal plant of family Cucurbitaceae. The crude fruit extract were examined for antimicrobial potentialities against Gram positive, Gram negative bacteria and fungi. Fruit extract was evaluated on bacterial strains like Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Shigella shigella and Candida albicans .The solvent used for the extraction of plants were water, methanol, petroleum ether, ethanol and acetone. The acetone, methanol, ethanol and distilled water fruit extracts exhibit significant activity against all test organisms. The petroleum ether showed least activity against test bacterial strains which were investigated. The in vitro antimicrobial activity of the active extract was compared with standard antibiotic Cephlexin. The MIC values of the extracts were also determined. The plant contains tannins, saponins, flavanoids, terepenoids, alkaloids, steroids and cardiac glycoside.