ABSTRACT:
Cleome rutidosperma, Linn [Family-Cleomaceae] is claimed to relieve earache, pain. However thorough literature survey indicated that different plants of the same genus available in tropical parts of India have various reported biological activities like antifungal activity, antibacterial activity. So it is reasonable to expect that this plant might have similar kind of biological activity. The present study was undertaken to explore the antifungal potential of different solvent extracts of aerial parts against selected fungal species. The aerial parts of the plant Cleome rutidosperma was successively extracted with ethanol (90%), petroleum ether, diethyl ether, ethyl acetate and N-butanol. The extracts were vaccum dried and studied for in vitro antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger, Penicillium notatum, Candida albicans, Helminthosporium solani. The ethanolic extract exhibited prominent antifungal activity against all selected strains .Minimum inhibitory concentration of the extracts was performed by broth dilution method and the zone of inhibition was studied by agar disc diffusion method at concentrations 2, 5, 10 mg/ml in DMSO. Cotrimazole (25 µg/ml) was used as reference control for antifungal studies. The present study indicates the potential usefulness of Cleome rutidosperma aerial parts as antifungal agent.