Cichorium intybus: An Excellent Medicinal Herb and Potential Growth Inhibitor of Pathogenic Microorganisms Causing Various Diseases in Humans

Cichorium intybus commonly known as coffee weed in the family Asteraceae is one the famous traditional herb used for curing various human ailments. Recently, different side effects have been reported from the application of artificial antibiotics in human. Hence, the key objective of the current study was to explore the inhibitory potential of Cichorium intybus. The ethanolic extracts of flower, leaves, stem and root were prepared for investigating its anti microbial activity against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus atrophaeus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Citrobacter and Candida albicans. Using well diffusion method, strong activities were observed in terms of inhibition zone against these microorganisms. In current study, best antimicrobial activity (20.3 mm) in leaves extracts was observed against Klebsiella pneumonia, 19 mm against Citrobacter, 17.5 mm against Escherichia coli, 16.3 mm against Bacillus atrophaeus and 17.1 mm against Pseudomonas aeroginosa. The flower extracts have shown activities of 18.6 mm against Bacillus subtillus, 17.3 mm against Klebsiella pneumonia, 16.6 mm against Staphylococcus aureus and 16 mm against Escherichia coli. The root extracts showed an activity of 18.6 mm against Pseudomonas aeroginosa, 16.3 mm against Escherichia coli, and 15.6 mm against Klebsiella pneumonia, Bacillus subtilis and Citrobacter. The stem extracts showed 16.3 mm activity against Pseudomonas aeroginosa, 15.8 mm against Salmonella typhi, 15.3 mm against Candida albicans (15.3 mm) and 15 mm against Bacillus subtilis. The current study exposes the antimicrobial prospective of a medicinally important plant, Cichorium intybus as a chief component in possible antibiotic formulation against the given microorganisms and can provide innovative drug discoveries.