EVALUATION OF ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITIES OF METHANOLIC LEAF EXTRACT OF CALLISTEMON VIMINALIS

Callistemon viminalis (bottle brush) belongs to family Myrtaceae that has a great medicinal importance.C.viminalis leaf shows various types of activities such as free radical scavenging activity, calcium channel blocking activity, antifungal, antibacterial, antidiabetic, antithrombin and herbicidal activity. The current work describes the antibacterial, phytochemical analysis as well as antioxidant activities of methanolic leaf extract of C.viminalis The phytochemical analysis of methanolic leaf extract of C.viminalis showed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannin & phenol, saponins, carbohydrates, amino acids and proteins. In the present study the total phenolic content in the leaf extract was found 1201.06 ± 27.13 g equivalent of gallic acid per100g of extract and antioxidant activity which was measured as reducing power assay (FRAP) was found 12.98 ± 0.82%. Antibacterial activity of leaf extract of C.viminalis was screened by disc diffusion method against isolated bacterial strain of E. coli, and S.aureus. The methanolic leaf extract was found active against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, which showed maximum diameter of inhibition zone 15 mm in E. coli while 12mm in S.aureus. Based on these results, we may conclude that the methanolic leaf extract of C.viminalis showed good antioxidant free radicals due to their hydroxyl groups of phenolic content. These data support the use of such plant based medicines in treatment of infectious diseases where access to commercial antibiotics is restricted. The leaf extract is active against human bacterial pathogens thus emerging as potential sources of new antibacterial compounds.