~ 1669 ~  Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2018; 7(1): 1669-1674             E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 JPP 2018; 7(1): 1669-1674 Received: 11-11-2017 Accepted: 12-12-2017   Nalanda Bala Murugan Department of Rural Development and Agricultural Production, North-Eastern Hill University, Tura campus, Meghalaya, India Birendra Kumar Mishra Department of Rural Development and Agricultural Production, North-Eastern Hill University, Tura campus, Meghalaya, India Biswajit Paul Department of Zoology, Don Bosco College, Tura, Meghalaya, India Correspondence Nalanda Bala Murugan Department of Rural Development and Agricultural Production, North-Eastern Hill University, Tura campus, Meghalaya, India, India Antioxidant and antibacterial evaluation of medicinal plants used in the starter culture ( Wanti ) of fermented rice beverage in West Garo hills, Meghalaya Nalanda Bala Murugan, Birendra Kumar Mishra and Biswajit Paul Abstract Starter culture wanti used to ferment boiled rice to produce the beverage bitchi in the region of West Garo Hills is prepared by incorporating medicinal plants namely Plumbago zeylanica, Thelypteris clarkei C.F. Reed, Clerodendrum D. Don, Leucas lavandulaefolia and Scoparia dulcis due to which the beverages is claimed to possess therapeutic properties. The objective of the study was to endorse this claim by evaluating the plants with respective to their antioxidant property by 1, 1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay and antibacterial property by agar well diffusion assay. All plant extracts showed excellent antioxidant and antibacterial properties. The extract of L. lavandulaefolia recorded the highest radical scavenging activity of 98.51±0.08 % (IC50 - 125.17µg/ml). The extract of S. dulcis exhibited the highest inhibition zone of 41.10±0.96mm (MIC/MBC -15.6 / 62.5 µg/ml) against S. aureus. These investigations serve as a prelude to attribute the therapeutic value of the rice beverage due to incorporated medicinal plants. Keywords: starter culture, medicinal plants, antioxidant activity, antibacterial activity Introduction Traditional starter cultures are products of great significance across many Asian countries such as China, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Vietnam and India in particular the central and north- eastern states. The starter culture is used for fermentation of boiled rice to produce alcoholic drink that is commonly referred to as either rice beer or rice wine depending on the percentage of alcohol content present in the beverage [1]. The starter culture is called by various names such as medombae or mae sra in Cambodia [2] chu in China, banh men in Vietnam, nuruk in Korea, koji in Japan, agi in Indonesia, ragi tapai in Malaysia, and bubod in Philippines, murcha in the Himalayan regions of India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet [3] and bakhar in Central part of West Bengal in India [4]. By and large the starter culture is prepared by incorporating many medicinal plants, herbs and spices that are locally available in a given region. It is believed that the herbs impart an intoxicating property to the fermented rice beverage [5] . They also contribute to various organoleptic and certain medicinal properties to the beverage that could be dependent on the type of medicinal plants used [6] . The plant may also furnish certain nutrients that could be essential for the survival and growth of the indigenous microflora present in the starter cakes, produce fragrance and keep down the growth of undesired micro- organisms in the final products. A study on the role of the oriental herbs in the traditional Vietnamese starters by Hieu (1990) showed that 33 of 35 investigated oriental herbs stimulate the growth of yeasts and moulds and there appeared to be a synergistic effect [7] . The medicinal properties of plants have been investigated for their potent pharmacological activities. The preservative effect of many plant spices and herbs indicates the presence of antioxidative and antimicrobial constituents in their tissues. Plants produce substantial amount of antioxidants to prevent the oxidative stress that is caused by photons and oxygen and thus they represent a potential source of new compounds with antioxidant activity [8, 9] . There are pharmacological and clinical documentations available on many of the plant species which are endued with phytochemicals, antimicrobial components and secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, phenolic compounds, etc. that have marked activity on pathogenic bacteria. The natural antioxidants contained in spices, herbs and medicinal plants may be useful in preventing the deleterious consequences of oxidative stress and in the protection of the body’s biochemical functions [10, 11] . A study by Kim et al. (2014) reports that distinctive sensorial and health-related characteristics of traditional Korean rice wine (KRW) are derived from added medicinal plants and herbs to