The bactericidal activity of a medicinal plant, Terminalia chebula is enhanced upon addition of manganese salts.

The aqueous extract of Terminalia chebula, a natural medicinal herb had been demonstrated to exert its bacte- ricidal activity against Salmonella sp., Shigella sp., Vibrio cholerae and Escherichia coli: the bacteria that cause gastr o- enteritis. This activity was analyzed upon addition of different concentrations of salts of magnesium and manganese in the aqueous extract of the plant in order to observe the effect of the salts, if any. This study revealed that addition of manganese chloride at a concentration of about 80 g/ gm of dried leaf powder could further increase the existing ant i- bacterial activity of the plant to enteric bacteria by 25 to 45% .