ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF THE LEAVES AND STEM BARK OF AILANTHUS EXCELSA ROXB.

Summary Aqueous and alcoholic extracts of Ailanthus excelsa Roxb leaves and stem bark were investigated for their in-vitro antibacterial properties by agar cupplate method. The crude extracts inhibited the growth of both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. The gram positive bacteria tested appeared to be more susceptible to the extracts than the gram negative bacteria. Both the extracts of leaf and stem bark showed inhibitory activity against all the tested bacteria. The order of antibacterial activity of different extracts was alcoholic leaf extract > alcoholic stem bark extract > aqueous leaf extract > aqueous stem bark extract. Based on the current findings it can be concluded that the plant possess potent antibacterial activity.