In vitro Antimicrobial Effect of Essential oil from Leaf and Rhizome of Various Accessions of Acorus calamus Linn., and Its Phytochemical Screening

The study was carried out to analysis phytochemical constituents and antimicrobial effect of the essential oil of the leaf and rhizome obtained from the various accessions of Acorus calamus L., collected from India. Studies were carried out in C. G. Bhakta Institute of Biotechnology, Uka Tarsadia University, India, between June 2013 and August 2014.

Different plant accessions of A. calamus were collected from India. The extraction was carried out by hydrodistillation in a Clevenger-type apparatus. Chemical test for the screening of bioactive chemical constituent in plant was carried out using acetone-water extract. The essential oils were scanned in the wavelength ranging from 200-800 nm by using Ultra Visible spectrophotometer and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The disk diffusion method and minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were used to screen the antimicrobial effect of essential oils various accessions.

The phytochemical screening revealed the various group in plant such as steroids, alkaloids, tannins, phenols, flavanoids, fatty acid, cardiac glycosides, carbohydrate, amino acid and proteins. Anthocyanin and leucoanthocyanin were present only in leaf essential oils. UV spectrum data recorded maximum absorbance peak ranges between 205 nm to 363 nm. FTIR spectrum showed the peaks in the range of 587.72- 2996.41 cm-1. Essential oils from rhizome and leaf were screened for its antimicrobial activity against different microbial strains. Rhizome essential oil was shown to have higher activity than leaf oil. Except Enterobacter aerogenes all the test microorganisms were significantly inhibited by almost all the essential oils even at very low MIC. All different accessions from different states showed inhibition but the plants obtained from North India (PWB, HW, ROH, DAN) showed the maximum Percentage of Inhibition.

The analysis carried out on this plant shows that the plant could be explored as a potential antimicrobial drug in phytomedicine.