ASSESSMENT OF ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF Sphaeranthus indicus L. AGAINST HIGHLY RESISTANT PATHOGENS AND ITS COMPARISON WITH THREE DIFFERENT ANTIBIOTICS

Sphaeranthus indicus L. is an important medicinal plant belongs to family Asteraceae. It is used to treat various physiological disorders including epilepsy, mental illness, jaundice, hepatopathy, diabetes, leprosy, fever, cough, gastropathy, hernia, hemorrhoids, helminthiasis dyspepsia and skin diseases. The aim of the current research was to find out the antimicrobial activity of Sphaeranthus indicus against highly resistant pathogens such as E. coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans. The flowers were collected from local market of Karachi-Pakistan and extraction was performed using Soxhlet extractor. The antimicrobial activity of flowers was examined against different bacterial and fungal cultures by disc diffusion method with respect to the selection of different solvents for phytoconstituents extraction and fractionation. The results showed that the ethanolic extract of Sphaeranthus indicus flowers has both antibacterial activity and antifungal activity. Moreover the greater antimicrobial activity of plant was observed against some highly resistant pathogens as compared to antibiotics. The statistical one-way anova and Tukey's Post Hoc test results also reflects the difference in antibacterial activity between antibiotics and plant extract. The phytochemical characterization results indicated the presence of different chemical constituents in flowers extract. It has been concluded that plant based antimicrobial agents may produce more beneficial effects as compared to antibiotics.