Abstract:
Plants contain a variety of phytochemicals which can be used for curing various kinds of diseases. In
this study, crude extract mixtures of five medicinal plant species Citrus aurantifolia, Curcuma
domestica, Trigonella foenumgraceum, Cassia alata, Azadirachta indica were investigated for
antidandruff activity against dandruff causing agent Malassezia sp. The methanol extracts of five plants
were combined in designated ways, in which every combination had an equal amount of each plant
extract. Malassezia sp fungi was isolated and incubated in a modified PDA medium supplemented with
olive oil and coconut oil. Disc diffusion method was used to test the antifungal activity of the plant
extracts and the mean inhibition zone was measured in mm. Data were analyzed using one way
ANOVA and Tukey’s pairwise mean comparison was applied to compare the mean at P=0.05. The
combined crude extracts A (Citrus aurantifolia + Azadirachta indica), B (Azadirachta indica +
Curcuma domestica) and F (Azadirachta indica + Curcuma domestica + Citrus aurantifolia) having the
highest zone (28.00 mm, 23.25mm and 24.92 mm respectively) of inhibition followed by combinations
E (Azadirachta indica + Curcuma domestica + Cassia alata) (18.67mm), C (Citrus aurantifolia +
Cassia alata) (15.00mm) and D (Citrus aurantifolia + Trigonella foenumgraceum) (15.00mm). All
combinations of crude extracts had good antifungal activity but there is a considerable disparity in the
potency of their antifungal activity. This may be due to the variation in concentration of active
compound present in the crude extracts against fungi. Among the commercial antidandruff shampoos
tested, the best antidandruff shampoo was Head&Shoulder (22.1mm). This was followed by ‘Clear’
(20.4mm) and ‘Lifebuoy’ (18.5mm). All these shampoos contain Zinc pyrithione (ZPT) which is
reported to be anti-malassezial agent. The experiment showed that the antifungal activity of five plant
extracts in the form of various combinations and commercial antidandruff shampoos was significantly
different. Herbal-based shampoos are more effective in terms of safety and ease of manufacturing and
in an economic point of view to control dandruff which is a major cosmetic problem.
