Antibacterial and antifungal activity of coccinia grandis instant juice powder

Elicy priya*¹ M and Thilagavathi S^2
1M Phil. Scholar and ²Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Periyar University, Salem, India

A B S T R A C T
Coccinia grandis L., (Ivy gourd) of the family Cucurbitaceae is distributed in tropical Asia, Africa and is commonly found in India, Pakistan and Srilanka. The Cucurbitaceae family is commonly known as gourd, melon, and pumpkin family. Coccinia grandis plays a major role in the medicinal properties. The main aim of this work is to study the antibacterial, antifungal activity of coccinia grandis instant juice powder. Coccinia grandis fruits were processed to obtain pulp and made into juice powder. The flavonoid, tannin, phytosterol, glycosides were exist in both aqueous and ethanol extracts of coccinia grandis instant juice powder. The antibacterial and antifungal studies revealed a significant activity against bacterial and fungal strains. It showed 2 to 5.1 mm zone of inhibition in the aqueous and solvent extract. Compared with solvent extracts, aqueous extract has more potential. This may be attributed to the presence of phytochemical in coccinia grandis instant juice powder. It is concluded from the current study that the phytochemicals of coccinia grandis remained active evenafter thermal processing. Hence coccinia grandis instant juice powder could be a good source of phytochemical with potential antibacterial and antifungal property.
Keywords: Coccinia grandis L, Cucurbitaceae, flavonoid, tannin, phytosterol, glycosides