In vitro antifungal activity of leaf and root extracts of the medicinal plant, hypochaeris radicata l.

Objective: To assess the antifungal activity of the successive extracts (petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, methanol and water) of leaf and root parts of Hypochaeris radicata and to determine the minimum inhibitory (MIC) concentration against nine human pathogenic fungi.

Methods: The antifungal activities of the leaf and root extracts against nine pathogenic fungi were tested by using disc diffusion method.Tetracycline was used as positive control. MIC for the methanolic leaf and root extracts of this species was assessed for antifungal susceptibility using broth micro dilution method.

Results: From the evaluation it was found that ethyl acetate extracts inhibited the fungal growth effectively than the other solvent extracts. The fungal species, Aspergillus niger and Mucor sp. were very sensitive to the ethyl acetate extract of both leaf (24.83 ± 0.28) and root (20.96 ± 0.25).Among the two parts studied, the root part showed higher antifungal activity than the leaf part. MIC for the methanolic leaf and root extracts of this species was ranging between 200 and 500µg/mL and 200 and 600µg/mL respectively.

Conclusion: The obtained results provide a support for the use of this plant in traditional medicine and it is a potential antiseptic source for the prevention and treatment of fungal infections.