Physicochemical and Antibacterial Activity of Rhizomes of Curcuma angustifolia Roxb, (Zingiberaceae)

The antimicrobial properties of methanolic extract of Curcuma angustifolia Roxb. rhizomes were assayed in vitro against human pathogenic bacteria represented by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Shigella flexneri by 96 well-plate method. The extracts studied in the present investigation exhibited varying degree of inhibitory effect against all tested bacteria. The result shows MIC at 2 l for P. aeruginosa, S. typhi, S. arueus and S. flexneri whereas it was 8 l for E. coli. The antibacterial activity may due to variety of secondary metabolites present in the plant, such as glycoside, flavonoid, tannin and phytosterol, which have been found in vitro to have antimicrobial properties. Physicochemical analysis of the rhizome powder showed 2.50 % total ash, 0.50 % acid insoluble ash, 2.0 % acid soluble ash, 0.50 % water insoluble ash, water soluble ash 2.0 % and 19.04 % loss on drying. Rhizomes are rich source of protein, carbohydrate and minerals. This is the first report on the pharmacognostic studies of C. angustifolia Roxb. rhizome. The results of pharmacognostic analysis were helpful in developing standards for purity, quality and identification of the crude drugs.