ANTIMICROBIAL EFFICACY OF RAPHANUS SATIVUS ROOT JUICE

Raphanus sativus L. belongs to family Brassicaceae and is more commonly known as Radish. Radish has long been grown as a food crop and are of high medicinal value. R. sativus seeds and leaves contain ‘raphanin’ which has been found to possess antibacterial and antifungal potential. In the present study, R. sativus root juice was evaluated for its antimicrobial potential against five bacterial strains, viz. Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli. The results obtained from the present study, reveal that R. sativus root juice exhibits considerable antimicrobial activity against all the tested microorganisms at a Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) ranging from 0.078 to 0.625 mg/ml. A reference drug, ampicillin was used for comparing the results.