Spinach

The present study was undertaken with a view to evaluate the successive extracts of leaves of Spinacia oleracea Linn., for its antibacterial activity against various strains of gram positive and gram negative bacteria.  The shade dried, powdered, defatted plant material was subjected to successive soxhlet extraction with Ethyl acetate and Ethanol. The plant powder and the extracts were subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening which revealed the presence of flavonoids, saponins, tannins, phenols, sugars, lipids, alkaloids, steroids. The in vitro antibacterial assay of successive extracts revealed variable degrees of antibacterial activity against different microorganisms. The ethylacetate extract showed effective inhibition against Aeromonas and Salmonella species whereas ethanolic extract showed relatively higher inhibitory potency against Bacillus subtilis. Both the ethylacetate and ethanolic extracts were found to be ineffective against Staphylococcus aureus.