EVALUATION OF ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF NATURAL PLANT PRODUCTS AGAINST FUNGAL CONTAMINANTS ISOLATED FROM NGARI (A FERMENTED FISH PRODUCT OF MANIPUR).

Ngari is a non-salted fermented fish of Manipur and was made by the indigenous people of Manipur North east India. Traditional Knowledge (TK) possessed by different communities is often closely linked to their way of life. The present study tried to document the control of microbial contaminants isolated from Ngari (A fermented fish product) by natural plants products. Two fungi were isolated from the "Ngari" stored at room temperature (150C-200C) for 45 day. Antimicrobial activity of plant extract was done by agar well diffusion method. Of 8 plants extracts, cinnamon ethanolic extract showed antifungal activity with zone of inhibition 55mm and 15mm against green coloured and black coloured fungal isolates, respectively. Mango ethanolic extract showed antifungal activity against black coloured fungal isolate with zone of inhibition 10mm. Mulberry, neen, guava, curry and stem of ginger and termaric extracts did not show any activity against the both fungal isolates. Antibiotic susceptibility pattern of microbial isolates was done by agar disc diffusion method. Ketaconazole showed the best activity against the both fungal i.e (green and black) with zone of inhibition (18mm) followed by Clotrimazole (CC) (12 and 20mm) and Itraconazole (IT) (12 and 17mm), respectively. Nystatin (NS) showed the activity only against the black fungal 13mm. Both fungal isolates were resistant to Amphotericin and Fluconazole. The Cinnamon ethanolic extract exhibited the MIC of 10% w/v against both fungal isolates. The photochemical analysis of cinnamon ethanolic extract was done and showed the presence of alkaloid, tannins and phenols and absence of flavonoid and saponins. It may be suggested from the findings that cinnamon ethanolic extract can be used as a potential source of natural antimicrobial compound to be used as food preservative. Further research is needed for the to identify fungal isolates from Ngari and also to isolate, purify and identify the active antifungal from the cinnamon ethanolic extract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]