Antifungal Activity and Qualitative Phytochemical Analysis of Some Medicinal Plants in Jaffna (Sri Lanka)

Many members of the Labiatae family are used in traditional and folk medicine and also used as culinary and ornamental plants. Leaves are the most used plants parts of this family. Ethanolic extract of the leaves, stem, seeds of Leucas zeylanica, Ocimum canum, Ocimum sanctum and leaves of Mentha arvensis, Ocimum basilicum were subjected to phytochemical screening and antifungal assays against Aspergillus sp., Penicillium sp., Trichoderma sp., Mucor sp., Rhizopus sp. was determined by using the agar streaking assay method after 48 and 72 hours of incubation. All parts of the plants were found to contain flavonoid/s and alkaloid/s except for the absence of alkaloids in seeds of L. zeylanica and stem of O. sanctum respectively. Tannins were present in all parts of plants such as L. zeylanica, O. canum, M. arvensis and absent in O. sanctum and O. basilicum. Phlobatannins were only present in leaves of L. zeylanica and saponins were present only in leaves of O. basilicum. The leaves of L. zeylanica, O. basilicum, M. arvensis, O. sanctum and seeds of O. sanctum and O. canum showed the presence of steroids. Terpenoids were present in all parts of O. sanctum and O. canum than the other plants. The cardiac glycosides were present in all parts of O. sanctum than the other plants tested. Leaves of O. sanctum and M. arvensis exhibited strong positive antifungal activity against Aspergillus sp. Leaves of O. canum, O. basilicum and M. arvensis and stem of O. canum showed strong positive activity against Mucor sp. L. zeylanica only exhibited the antifungal activity against Mucor sp. Penicillium sp. was inhibited by the leaves and seeds extracts of O. sanctum. Degree of activity was low in L. zeylanica compared with other plant extracts. Most of these plant parts did not show any activity against Trichoderma sp. and Rhizopus sp. This study revealed that the antifungal activity of leaves of these plants was high than other plant parts against tested fungi.