In-vitro assessment of the anti-microbial and antioxidant of moringa oleifera and azadirachta indica against bacterial endophytes: a comparative study

The current line of investigation was aimed at scrutinizing the phytochemicals and isolate the endophytic fungi from the leaf extracts of two higher medicinal plants (Moringa oleifera and Azadirachta indica) for anti-microbial and antioxidant potentials in different solvents (water and ethylacetate). Different in vitro methods such as 2-2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, disc diffusion methods were employed in the study. The results revealed that Moringa oleifera has outstanding scavenging activity than A. indica, it was found that DPPH inhibition was significantly increased with increasing amount of extract when compared to the standard control ascorbic acid. Endophytic fungi Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas were isolated from M. oleifera and A. indica. Similar approach both the leaf extract was subjected anti-microbial activity by disk diffusion technique. The Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the extracts were determined by disc diffusion method and the results revealed that A. indica showed promising activity against gram positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and fungi Candida; it was found to be in effective against gram negative bacteria such as Pseudomonas, E. coli and A. niger when compared to Moringa oleifera, standard control amoxicillin. Further work is proposed on active constituents of the plant for better lead development and its exploitation as novel bioactive antimicrobial and antioxidant compounds.