Plant Science Research, Vol. 45, 2023

Antibacterial activity of saffron stigma and leaf extracts against human pathogenic bacteria

Pathogenic microbes are detrimental to human health. On the other hand, several drugs and antibiotics have already been losing their effectiveness in killing the pathogens. Therefore, it is imperative to explore new drugs using extracts of medicinal plants with improved antimicrobial activity and relatively less side effects. Thus, antibacterial activity of hydroethanolic extracts of saffron leaves and stigma have been studied against 06 Gram-negative and 03 Gram-positive human pathogenic bacterial strains. Herein, antibacterial activity of saffron stigma and leaf extracts were observed in different concentrations (5, 10, and 15 mg/ml) against 09 pathogenic bacterial strains. Results suggested that, both the extracts significantly (p < 0.05) retarded the growth of bacterial strains. Further, stigma extract was more effective against S. flexneri, L. monocytogenes, S. aureus and K. pneumoniae, where as leaf extract was more effective against the growth of S. flexneri, S. aureus and S. pneumoniae. However, higher concentrations of both the extracts inhibit growth of P. aeruginosa. Hence, further research is highly essential relating to the bioactive compound of extracts and its mode of action in inhibiting growth of pathogenic bacteria for drug development.