Antimicrobial Screening of the Extracts of Fruit Pericarp of Balanitis

This book explores the antimicrobial activity of the extracts from fruit pericarp of Balanites aegyptiaca. Balanitis is a scaggy shrub or a small tree met with in the dry parts of India from Cownpore to Sikkim, Gujarath and Deccan.The seeds, bark, leaves and fruits are used traditionally.Seeds are given in coughs and colic. Bark, unripe fruit and leaves are pungent, bitter, purgative and anthelmintic and used in worms in children. Fruit is used in snake-bite. Oil expressed from the seeds is an application to burns, excoriations and freckles. The present study aims to find out the antimicrobial potential of the extract obtained from the fruit pericarp of Balanites aegyptiaca.