Abstract

ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF ISOLATES OF ACTINOMYCETES FROM SOILS OF SEMI ARID REGIONS OF RAJASTHAN

Meeta Masand* and Ekta Menghani

ABSTRACT

The present study describes the isolation and antimicrobial activity screening of actinobacteria from the semi arid regions of Rajasthan, India. A total of six strains of actinobacteria were isolated from the soil samples collected from various arid and semi regions around Jaipur, Jhunjhunu, Sikar of Rajasthan. Soil samples were processed by selective methods to reduce the numbers of Gram-negative bacteria and to enrich slow-growing and spore-forming actinomycetes. The isolates were tested against six bacterial indicator strains Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella flexneri, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus vulgaris, Escherischia coli, Staphylococcus aureus. From the present study, it is clear that arid regions of Rajasthan the strains isolated shown antibacterial activity against six bacterial test strains. The anti microbial efficacy of the isolates varied greatly. Isolates A, B and E have shown antimicrobial activity against more than three test bacterial strains with zone of inhibition more than 7mm. Thus further studies needs to be carried out to process antibacterial agents in purified form.

Keywords: Antimicrobial activity, semi arid region, Actinobacteria, Rajasthan, Pretreatment.