EVALUATION OF ANTIBIOTIC AND BIOCHEMICAL POTENTIAL OF BRYOPHYTES FROM KUMAUN HILLS AND TARAI BELT OF HIMALAYAS

Objective: Today, one of the major problems in the treatment of disease is the development of resistance against conventional antibiotics. One way to curb the problem of increasing antibiotic resistance is to use botanicals. Bryophytes, one of the earliest land inhabitants, are generally not known to get affected by any disease in nature owing to their unique chemical constituents. Therefore, the study was aimed to test the efficacy of bryophytes as an alternative to the synthetic drugs by exploring their antimicrobial and biochemical potential.Methods: Antibacterial, biochemical and antioxidant characterization of 2 liverworts, Reboulia hemisphaerica L. (Raddi), Marchantia palmata Reinw., Nees & Blume and one moss species, Hydrogonium gracilantum (Mitt). P. C. Chen was done under laboratory conditions.Results: Both acetone and ethanol extracts of the collected bryophytes inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Erwinia chrysanthemi and Pseudomonas aeruginosa on an agar plate. The ethanol extract of H. gracilantum was the most potent inhibitor of E. chrysanthemi followed by ethanol extract of R. hemisphaerica against E. coli.Conclusion: E. chrysanthemi was the most sensitive pathogen to ethanol extract of H. gracilentum while E. coli and B. cereus were inhibited most by ethanol extract of R. hemispherica. However, P. aeruginosa was most sensitive to acetone extracts of M. palmata and H. gracilantum and ethanol extract of R. hemisphaerca. All the plant extracts had moderate content of phenols and flavonoids. The antioxidant activity of corresponding extracts could be related with the total phenol and flavonoid contents.Keywords: Bryophytes, Reboulia hemisphaerica, Marchantia palmata, Hydrogonium gracilantum, Phenols, antioxidants, Flavonoids, Antibacterial Â