Investigation of Anti-Microbial Activity of Leaf and Unripe Peel of Musa Paradisica Linn.

The present study was designated to investigate the anti-microbial activities of alcoholic and aqueous extract from leaves and unripe peel of Musa paradisica Linn. using the paper disc diffusion method. All the extract showed considerable activity against all the four tested strains viz., Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Escherichia coli, Candida albican and Candida non-albican. Leaves extract showed more activity than unripe peel extracts and it was comparable to the standard drug.

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Musa paradisica Linn. (Musaceae) commonly know as banana is the herbaceous plants that grow for its fruit. Bananas have a false stem (called pseudostem), which is made by the lower part of the leaves. This pseudostem can grow to be two to eight metres tall. Each pseudostem grows from a corm. A pseudostem is able to produce a single bunch of bananas. After fruiting, the pseudostem dies and is replaced. When most bananas are ripe, they turn yellow or, sometimes, red. Leaves are arranged as a spiral and may grow 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) long and 60 cm (2.0 ft) wide. The banana fruit grow in hanging clusters. There are up to 20 fruit to a tier. (called a hand). The total of the hanging clusters is known as a bunch, or commercially as a banana stem. There are between three and twenty tiers to a bunch.

A single fruit is about 125 grams on average; about three quarters of this is water. Each banana (or finger) has a protective outer layer (called peel or skin). There is a fleshy part inside. Both the skin and inner part can be eaten. Western cultures generally eat the inside raw and throw away the skin while some Asian cultures generally eat both the skin and inside cooked. The plant contains tannic acid, gallic acid, vitamin C and B, volatile components. Fruits are very rich in chromium, acyl steryl glycoside and sitaondoside. Bananas have a lot of vitamin B6, vitamin C, and potassium. The various part of plants are used medicinally in the treatment of various disease and disorder by the tribal and rural people of our country and various uses such as laxative, demulscent, emollient, antiulcerrogenic, in treatment of burns etc. are also mentioned in Wealth of India. Several authors had work to investigate the antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant activities of the plant2-4, but till yet no work was done to investigate the anti-microbial activity of leaves and unripe peel of banana therefore, the present work was conceived by us.

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