Antibacterial activity of indigenous fermented rice beverage of West Garo Hills, Meghalaya, India

Indigenous fermented beverage brewed from rice is an integral part of the rich tribal diet and culture in the region of West Garo Hills, Meghalaya. The beverage is fermented using locally available rice varieties and traditional rice starter cultures containing a mixed population of indigenous microbes (yeast, bacteria and moulds) and topical medicinal plants. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the antibacterial property of the traditionally fermented rice beverage with respect to five different medicinal plants used individually in the starter culture namely Plumbago zeylanica, Thelypteris clarkei C.F. Reed, Clorodendrum D. Don, Leucas lavandulaefolia and Scoparia dulcis. All the beverages exhibited good antibacterial property in agar well diffusion assay with the beverage brewed using S. dulcis and L. lavandulaefolia showing the highest inhibition zone of 39.50 ± 0.70mm against B. cereus Control beverage brewed from the starter without medicinal plants showed the least inhibition zones ranging from 8.75±0.21mm to 15.67±0.45mm. Hence the investigations testified a potential increase antibacterial property of the traditional rice beverage which can be attributed to the addition of medicinal plants thus plausibly contributing to its curative and health-promoting property claimed by the local tribal folks of West Garo Hills, Meghalaya.