Antifungal Assay of Ethanolic Extract of Clematis graveolens (Lindl.) Flowers Against Some Fungi

The antifungal activity of ethanolic extracts of Clematis graveolens (Lindl.) flowers using five different solvents; acetone, chloroform, distilled water (DW), ethanol and methanol were evaluated against six test fungi; Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporum, Penicillium notatum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae by applying poisoned food technique. Three concentrations of crude extracts 2000 ppm, 1000 ppm and 500 ppm were tested. Percent of fungal growth inhibition was found to be dose dependent. Distilled water was found to be the most effective solvent followed by chloroform, acetone, methanol and ethanol. C. graveolens flowers extract exhibited maximum antifungal activity against A. niger , followed by F. oxysporum, S. cerevisiae, A. fumigatus, A. flavus and P. notatum . The standard antifungal drug, Terbinafine, was used which completely controlled the growth of test fungi. The results were compared with negative control and were found to be highly significant (p 0.000). Overall, our results suggest that the plant extract have great potential as an antimicrobial agent against fungi.