In vitro Studies and Antimicrobial Activities of Pereskia grandifolia Haworth var. grandifolia

Taha, Rosna; Abdol Latif, Fatimah

In vitro Studies and Antimicrobial Activities of Pereskia grandifolia Haworth var. grandifolia

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Abstract

In vitro propagation was developed for the medicinal plant Pereskia grandifolia Haworth var. grandifolia
using axillary bud explants. Optimum multiplication of shoots was achieved on MS (Murashige and
Skoog, 1962) medium supplemented with 3.0 mg/l BAP (6-Benzylaminopurine) and 30.0 mg/l adenine.
Plants were maintained in vitro on MS medium while callus were induced on MS basal medium
supplemented with the combination of 5.0 mg/l BAP (6-Benzylaminopurine) and 5.0 mg/l NAA (α-
Naphthalene acetic acid). The antimicrobial tests were carried out using the crude extracts of this species
from in vitro callus and intact leaves. No difference was detected between crude methanol extract from
Pereskia grandifolia leaves and callus. The same extract failed to inhibit all gram positive and gram
negative bacteria growth; however, it inhibited the growth of fungi. Only dermatophytes fungi (without
spore) such as Microsporium canis and Trichophyton rubrum was inhibited with a medium and weak
strength of methanol extract. This extract did not inhibit the growth of dermatophytes fungi (with spore)
such as Aspergillus niger and Trichophyton mentagrophyte.

Keywords