Amna Ali, Muhammad Saleem Haider, Sana Hanif , Nosheen Akhtar and Muhammad Ashfaq
The present study evaluated the aqueous and methanol extract of selected weeds (Sonchus asper, Convolvulus arvensis and Solanum nigrum) for their antibacterial activity against different bacterial species isolated from diseased citrus fruits. The frequency of bacterial population was also estimated in diseased fruit samples of kinnow mandarin (Citrus reticulata) plants. Fourteen bacterial species were isolated on Luria Bertani (L.B.) medium and identified on the basis of morphological and biochemical features. The high frequency of bacteria was observed from Lahore, Jhang and Sargodha than that of Faisalabad, Jhelum and Bahawalnagar. Burkholderia pseudomallai has high frequency upto 14.8% as compare to other bacterial species. Aqueous and methanol extract of selected weeds were prepared and observed their antibacterial efficacy by using the well diffusion method in vitro. The significant results were obtained show that the both extracts of selected weeds tested inhibited the bacterial growth. Methanol extract of S. nigrum and C. arvensis were most effective against K. gibsonii with percentage of inhibition zone 59% and 61% respectively. Besides, X. luminescens (53%), Syntrophospora sp. (66%) in case of methanol extract of S. nigrum and Aerococcus sp. (56%), Acidovorax temperans (51%) in methanol extract of C. arvensis were also showed maximum inhibition zone percentage. However, aqueous and methanol extracts of S. asper were showed minimum range of percentage of inhibition upto 41%-48%. The present investigation strongly indicates antibacterial potential of aqueous and methanol extracts of weeds against bacterial pathogen of citrus in sustainable disease management.
