Bactericidal and Fungicidal Activity of Methanolic Extracts of Heracleum persicum Desf. ex Fischer against Some Aquatic and Terrestrial Animal Pathogens

The herb Persian hogweed (Heracleum persicum Desf. Ex Fischer) has been used in folkloric and traditional medicine especially in Asia and Middle East to increasing immunity and resistance to some diseases. The aim of the present study was screening antibacterial and antifungal activity of the methanolic extract of mixed leaves and flowers of Heracleum persicum collected from Mazandaran province Kelardasht area was conducted by the disc diffusion method. The methanolic extracts of this plant extracts were tested at concentration of 15 mg per disc and showed antimicrobial impact against selected pathogenic bacteria tested such as Aeromonas salmonicida, Aeromonas hydrophila, Streptococcus iniae (zoonotic agent), Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis Micrococcus luteus, Staphylococcus aureus,.Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia, Klebsiella oxytoca and Escherichia coli and fungi such Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans. The result showed that, leaves and flowers extracts of H. persicum have antimicrobial activity over 4 Gram-negative, 4 Gram-positive bacteria and antifungal effect over 2-fungi's, upon increasing of concentrations of extracts the antimicrobial activities in all of microorganisms also increases. Fungi are more sensitive than bacteria. This species has a huge distribution around the world especially in Europe and United state, achieve to this question that whether those herbs have similar effects at different climate, merits further investigation.