ABSTRACT:
The study is focussed to emphasize the values of fruits of Aegle marmelos as a natural drug. Phytochemical screening among benzene, chloroform, ethanol, methanol and aqueous extracts revealed the presence of preliminary compounds like alkaloid, flavonoid, phenols, terpenoids, tannin, saponin and few other compounds. Crude methanol and aqueous extracts were used for further studies. Antibacterial activity against Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus sp.) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) revealed potential resistance against E.coli (16mm) and S.aureus (14mm) in aqueous (3mg/ml) and methanol (3mg/ml) extract respectively. Antifungal activity tested against Aspergillus niger, Penicillium sp., Mucor sp., Rhizopus sp. showed maximum fungal inhibition zone against Penicillium sp. (16mm and 24mm) in Aqueous (4mg/ml) and methanol (4mg/ml) extracts respectively. In vitro antioxidant capacity was estimated by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method and the highest scavenging activity of 55.11% and 53.13% was observed in aqueous (100µl) and methanol (100µl) respectively. Therefore, A.marmelos fruits are immense source of bioactive compounds which might be a natural remedy for mankind against microbial infections and boost immunity.