Antimicrobial analysis of some plants traditionally used to treat mastitis

The present paper describes the antibacterial activity of six plants traditionally used for the treatment of mastitis by Kattunaikka tribe of Wayanad district of Kerala. The antibacterial activity was tested by the disc diffusion assay. All the test plants showed antibacterial activity against all the tested microorganisms. Among these plants Elephantopus scaber and Annona reticulata showed promising activity against many of the tested microorganisms associated with bovine mastitis. Tinospora cordifolia showed low activity against all the tested microorganisms and in lowest concentration of plant extract no activity was observed for Klebsiella pneumonia and Staphylococcus aureus. Among the various concentrations of aqueous extracts tested for the antimicrobial studies 100% found to be highly effective followed by 50% and 25%. The study reveals the importance of plants in the control of dreadful disease like mastitis. Potential herbal drugs will be developed from these plants that can reduce the burden of antibiotics and the resultant emergence of antibiotic resistant microorganisms.