African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 6 (13), pp. 1592-1596, 4 July 2007   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2007 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Bio-activity of oils of Trigonella foenum-graecum and Pongamia pinnata

Pritee Wagh¹, Mahendra Rai¹*, S K Deshmukh² and Marta Cristina Teixeira Durate³

¹Department of Biotechnology SGB Amravati University Amravati-444602, Maharashtra, India.
²Department of Natural Products, Nicholas Piramal Research Centre, 1A, 1B&1C , Nirlon Complex, Off Western Express Highway, Next to Food Bazar, Goregaon (East), Mumbai 400 063. India.

 ³Biológicas E Agrícolas – Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas - São Paulo, Brasil,  P.O. Box 6171, CEP: 13081-970.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: mkrai123@rediffmail.com or pmkrai@hotmail.com. Tel: 91 721 2662207/ 8 ext. 267.  Fax: 91 721 2660649/2662135.

Accepted 20 October, 2006

Different concentration of oils obtained from two plants species belonging to family Fabaceae i.e. Trigonella foenum-graecum and Pongamia pinnata were evaluated for their antifungal and antibacterial activity against Aspergillus niger, A. fumigatus, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa by MIC determination and dry-weight method. Both the oils showed high degree of antimycotic and antibacterial activity. P. pinnata oil was more effective as compared to oil of T. foenum-gracecum. A. niger and S. aureus were more sensitive to oil of P. pinnata. Chemical analysis of oils performed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) showed the presence of fatty acids.

Key words: Inhibition, human pathogenic microbes, oils, Trigonella foenum-graecum, Pongamia pinnata.