It is a well-known fact that there is a tremendous increase in the use of anti-infective drugs and this has been identified as the major factor in accelerating microbial evolution and antibiotic resistance. Thus, for the future of public health discovering new alternative antibiotics and antifungals is very important. In contrast to the extensive utilisation of higher plants as a source of antimicrobial substances, Bryophytes have rarely been considered for this. But it has been known for years that mosses were used to treat cardiovascular diseases, tonsillitis, bronchitis, cystitis, and skin infections, especially in traditional Chinese medicine. In addition, there are also several studies in the literature presenting that some of the secondary metabolites produced by mosses are effective in the wound healing process and have an anti-infective effect on some microorganisms. The aim of this study is to determine the in vitro antimicrobial activity of Dicranum majus eethanolic extracts against 17 bacterial and 1 fungal strains, namely Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Candida albicans ATCC 10231, Enterobacter aerogenes ATCC 13048, Enterococcus durans, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212, Enterococcus faecium, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Escherichia coli CFAI, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 7644, Salmonella enteritidis ATCC 13075, Salmonella infantis, Salmonella kentucky, Salmonella typhimurium SL 1344, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Staphylococcus carnosus MC1.B, Staphylococcus epidermidis DSMZ 20044, and Streptococcus agalactiae DSMZ 6784 by using the disc diffusion method. As a result of the study, it is observed that D. majus extracts have antimicrobial activity against several gram-positive and gram-negative microorganisms including B. subtilis, C. albicans, E. aerogenes, E. coli ATCC, E. coli CFAI, K. pneumoniae, L. monocytogenes, S. carnosus, S. infantis, S. kentucky, S. typhimurium, S. aureus, S. carnosus, S. epidermidis, and S. agalactiae.
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