INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE & BIOLOGY ISSN Print: 1560–8530; ISSN Online: 1814–9596 15–825/2016/18–4–735–740 DOI: 10.17957/IJAB/15.0157 http://www.fspublishers.org Full Length Article To cite this paper: Tabassum, S., F. Amin, S. Erum, H. Javed, F. Kazmi, M.F. Nisar, I. Ullah, I. Murtaza and M. Ashraf, 2016. Effect of hexane and ethanol extracts of ten basil genotypes on the growth of selected bacterial strains. Int. J. Agric. Biol., 18: 735‒740 Effect of Hexane and Ethanol Extracts of Ten Basil Genotypes on the Growth of Selected Bacterial Strains Sobia Tabassum 1 , Farhana Amin 1 , Shazia Erum 2 , Hina Javed 1, Faiza Kazmi 1 , Muhammad Furrakh Nisar 3* , Irfan Ullah 3 , Iram Murtaza 4 and Muhammad Ashraf 1 1 Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology International Islamic University, H-10, Campus, Islamabad, Pakistan 2 Plant Genetic Resources Program, National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan 3 College of Bio Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing (400044), P.R. China 4 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan * For Correspondence: farrukh.nisar@hotmail.com; sobia.tabasum@iiu.edu.pk Abstract Bacterial infections are a nuisance to mankind from prehistoric times and still alive particularly in third world countries, where medicinal plants are extensively used as a treatment to pathogens since the known human history. In the current investigation, we used the crude extracts of an annual Holy Basil plant (Ocimum basilicum L. Family: Lamiaceae) enriched with a variety of aromatics, against the virulence of five pathogenic bacteria i.e., Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escheria coli, Proteus mirabilis and Klebsiella pneumoni. Among the crude ethanolic and hexane extracts, the latter showed much higher antibacterial activity than the former. Phytochemical profiling confirmed the presence of certain organic compounds (terpenoids, flavonoids, phenolics, tannins and coumarines) in the crude basil extracts, bearing strong antibacterial properties. Antibacterial chemistry was studied through thin layer chromatography (TLC) analyses with selected Pakistani varieties of basil, and it was confirmed the presence of bioactive compounds like alkaloids and terpenoids (15% sulphuric acid and Dragedroff’s reagent) in hexane extracts. The study sets further need for exploration of structure of these bioactive compounds with biological effect for pharmaceutical industry and future studies. © 2016 Friends Science Publishers Keywords: Ocimum basilicum; Antibacterial; Thin layer chromatography (TLC); Pathogenic bacteria; Phytochemicals Introduction New infectious diseases has been known since prehistoric times, which are inescapable however unforeseeable, well before the detection of pathogen even in modern age. Now day’s extraordinary advances in development of countermeasures (diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines), the ease of worldwide journey and increased global interdependence have added layers of complexity to containing these infectious diseases affecting not only the health but the economic stability of societies (Fauci and Morens, 2012). Pathogen borne diseases are common across the world and according to recent World Health Organization (WHO) statistics infectious diseases caused massive deaths of toddlers to early pubescent ages. Infectious diseases in non-industrialized countries may cause 45% in all and 63% of death in early childhood (Millar et al., 2007). According to WHO, up to 80% of the people depends on traditional system of medication and cure with medicinal plants across the globe (Arunkumar and Muthuselvam, 2009). For synthesis of complex chemical compounds and drug preparations, a good knowledge of the phytochemicals and source is desirable (Mojab et al., 2003; Parekh and Chanda, 2007, 2008). Phytochemical components such as tannins, carbohydrates, alkaloids, terpenoids, phenolics, steroids and flavonoids are responsible for various pharmacological disorders (Abbas et al., 2012; Zaman et al., 2012). These phytochemicals are synthesized as primary or secondary metabolites in tissues or cells of plants and secondary metabolites are taxonomically and chemically are diverse group of compounds with vague function mainly in pharmaceutics. Many of the phytochemicals are extensively used in agriculture as pesticides, insecticides and herbicides, in human medication and in therapies, veterinary science and many other branches of life sciences research (Vasu et al., 2009; Mansoor et al., 2011). The resistance of bacteria and fungi to antibiotics causes severe problem in agriculture and heavily impacted on economics of a country. Misuse and overuse of antimicrobial agents have exacerbated problems associated with development of resistance in microbes (Levy and Marshall, 2004). Increasing drug resistance presents of microbes is a major threat to public health because it may lessen the effectiveness of antimicrobial treatment, leading to increased morbidity, mortality, and health care expenditure (Humeniuk et al., 2002). Natural products are important sources for preparation of biologically active drugs. There