3-7 January, 2013 Proceedings of the 100” Session of the Indian Science Congress Section of Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences President Prof. Anil Prakash SharmaSection I : Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences ABF P-137 EFFICACY OF EXTRACTS FROM AERIAL PARTS OF POLYGONUM GLABRUM (WILLD) AND POLYGONUM HYDROPIPER LINN. IN CONTROLLING GRAM NEGATIVE FISH PATHOGENIC BACTERIA Subhendu Datta and B. K. Mahapatra Kolkata Centre, Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Salt Lake, Kolkata-700 091, West Bengal E-mail : subhdatta@gmail.com Keywords : Polygonum glabrum, Polygonum hydropiper, antibacterial ef- ficacy, fish disease control, phytochemical screening Fishermen of eastern and north-eastern states of India use Polygonum spp. a group of herbs grown in fallow moist land, in fisheries and aquaculture as piscicide, sedative and for treating the diseased fish. In the present study, two commonly found Polygonum spp. i.e. P. hydropiper and P. glabrum were tested against Aeromonas hydrophila, Aeromonus caviae and Edwardsiella tarda isolated from septicemic catfish Pangasius pangasius. Effect of organic extracts in restricting the bacterial growth was higher than aqueous extracts. Phytochemical screening of extracts revealed that both these herbs have an array of polar and non-polar compounds e.g. sesquiterpene aldehyde, esters in the lipophilic fractions and flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins and phenols in the hydrophobic fractions which might be responsible for the antibacterial effect of these herbs. Methanolic and water extracts of P. glabrum was tested against diseased ornamental fish i.e. swordtail and goldfish in aquaria. It was evident from this study that Polygonum spp. have good potential to control the bacterial disease of freshwater fish and a lead can be taken from the present study to develop suitable botanical pesticide for the control of fish disease. 241