Evaluation of antibacterial activity of liverwort species of Bagh Azad Jammu and Kashmir (Western Himalaya) against pathogenic bacteria

This research work aims to assess antibacterial potential of five liverwort species that have been collected from District Bagh Azad Jammu and Kashmir. For this purpose, two bacterial strains including Achromobacter xylosoxidans (Gram- negative) and Bacillus licheniformis (Gram- positive) were used by following disc diffusion method. The extract of the species was prepared in ethanol, methanol and water. The results showed that ethanol and methanol extracts of all liverworts have stronger and broader spectrum for the zone of inhibition against both bacteria. Among all investigated species, Marchantia emarginata and Pellia epiphylla showed most promising results, whereas lowest activity was shown by Plagiochasma rupestre. In aqueous extract, only Marchantia paleacea and Plageochasma rupestre showed positive results. In general, resistance shown by Gram-positive strains was superior to Gram-negative strains. This study proved that the investigated liverwort species possess strong defensive mechanism against bacteria and can be used to prepare novel antibiotics.