Comparative study on the antimicrobial activities of three Indian medicinal plants

Aqueous, methanol and chloroform extracts from the leaves of Ficus religiosa, Thespesia populnea and Hibiscus tiliaceus were completely screened for antibacterial and antifungal activity. The chloroform extract of F. religiosa possessed a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity with a zone of inhibition of 10 to 21 mm at very low MIC values. The methanolicextracts possessed moderate antibacterial activity against a few bacterial strains. There was less antibacterial activity or none at all using aqueous extracts. The extracts of F. religiosa were found to be active against Aspergillus niger and Penicillium notatum. The extracts from theleaves exhibited considerable and variable inhibitory effects against most of the microorganisms tested

Bio-sorption of physico-chemical constituents in textile dyeing effluent using Spirogyra gracilis Kützing

Abstract Dyes are mostly used in large quantities for colouring processes in textile industries. During this process huge amount of water is consumed and released into environment which is harmful to the aquatic animals, plants and human beings. Various physico-chemical techniques have been employed for the removal of dyes from wastewater and these methods create a major problem in the disposal of the concentrated sludge. To combat this problem, algae have been used in the bioremediation of textile dyeing effluent which have attracted the researchers to great interest. The present work has been aimed for the characterisation of physico-chemical parameters such as colour, odour, temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, total solids , chemical oxygen demand, total hardness, alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand, chlorides, sulphates, phosphates, nitrate, lead, chromium , zinc and oil and grease in the textile dyeing effluent. The results showed that the above physico-chemical parameters decreased when treated with Spirogyra gracilis which falls within the limits prescribed by BIS except dissolved oxygen