Objective: To elucidate the antibacterial and antifungal activities of Cichorium intybus (C. intybus).
Methods: The antibacterial and antifungal activities of C. intybus crude extract and its different solvent soluble fractions were carried out by using standard methods. Six bacterial strains like Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus epidermidis, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus subtilis were used for antibacterial activities while four fungal strains like Aspergillus flavus, Fusariun solani, Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus niger were subjected to various fractions for antifungal activities.
Results: Potentail activities of C. intybus were measured against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Water and ethyl acetate fractions showed promising activity against Fusariun solani and Aspergillus niger. Likewise, chloroform fraction was also found highly active against Fusariun solani.
Conclusions: The findings suggest that the plant has good antibacterial and antifungal properties and can be used for infection control and treatment. Therefore, it is recommended that C. intybus is an significant medicinal plant and can be very useful for further biological assays.