RESUMO
In the current study, the antimicrobial, phytotoxic, haemagglutination and antioxidant potential of crude methanolic extract [Crd. MeOH Ext.] and four organic fractions of Arisaema tortuosum was investigated. All fractions have been screened for antimicrobial properties against eight bacterial pathogens and six fungal pathogens using agar well diffusion and tube dilution method, respectively. Furthermore, the organic fractions were also screened for its phytotoxicity against Lemna minor. Haemagglutination was performed against all human blood groups while free radical scavenging activity was performed to investigate the antioxidant potential of A. tortuosum. Results obtained for antibacterial activity exhibited various degree of zone of inhibition and significant activity was observed for Pseudomonas aeruginosa [27.16 +/- 0.60] followed by Bacillus cereus [18.55 +/- 0.69] for Crd. MeOH Ext. and chloroform [CHCl3] fraction, respectively while some strains showed resistant at same concentration. Similarly, non-significant antifungal activity was observed for the plant extracts. However, the highest activity among the strains was observed for Alternaria alternata [22 +/- 1.24%] and Aspergillus niger [20 +/- 1.00%] for ethyl acetate [EtOAc] fraction and Crd. MeOH Ext., respectively. The plant extracts showed good phytotoxic activity with 77.06% inhibition for n-hexane fraction at 1000microg/mL. The result of Nitric Oxide [NO] reducing assay revealed that the plant has less antioxidant activity with 46.06% inhibition for CHCl3 fraction at 900microg/mL. For haemagglutination assay, the result displayed no agglutination in all the testing concentration. Based on the current results, it can be concluded that A. tortuosum has significant antimicrobial and moderate phytotoxic potential and therefore can leads to antibiotics and herbicide production