IN-VITRO ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF ESSENTIAL OILS FROM MEDICINAL PLANTS

The essential oils are of very much interest during recent years because of the need of new therapies against microbes. However, few investigations have compared large numbers of oils and extracts using different methods that are directly comparable. In the present study six plant oils was investigated for activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Aspergillums flavous, Candida albicans, Microspora gryseus and Aspergillus terus using cup plate method. The selected essential oils showed promising activity against selected pathogenic microbial strains among them the eucalyptus, sandal wood and rose oils showed very good activity against both bacterial as well as fungal strains. From this investigation we can say that the oils and their dilutions can be used as antiseptic and anti-infective agents in pharmaceutical and cosmoceutical formulations. Keywords: Essential oils, antifungal, antibacterial, cup plate method.