Comparative Evaluation of Phytochemical and in vitro Antioxidant Activities of two Endangered Plant Species of Western Himalayas

Author: Sunayana Singh*, P. K. Chauhan**, Avinash**, Rahul Thory** and Rupak Nagraik**

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Abstract

Present study deals with the quantitative evaluation of phytochemical and antioxidant activities of two endangered plant species, i.e. Rauwolfia serpentina (RS) and Picrorhiza kurroa (PC) of Western Himalayas. The leaf samples of both the plants were collected from wild or natural (W) and field grown (FG) habitats. The phytochemical study showed the presence of different phytochemicals such as total phenols, terpenoids, flavanoids and reducing sugars, whereas alkaloids, steroids and saponins were absent in both plant extracts taken from wild and field grown habitats. Tannins were only present in field grown and wild variety of Picrorhiza kurroa. The total phenolic content was found to be low in field grown variety of RS i.e. 102±0.42 GAE mg/g and highest in the wild variety of PC i.e. 181±0.52 GAE mg/g. Similarly, the total flavanoid content was found to be low in field grown variety of RS i.e. 12.6±0.34 RU mg/g and highest in the wild variety of PC i.e. 65±0.31 RU mg/g. In DPPH as

Keywords

Rauwolfia serpentina, Picrorhiza kurroa, IC50 value, DPPH assay, FRAP assay

Conclusion

In the present study, the wild Picrorhiza kurroa acetone extract exhibited the highest total phenolic content as well as high flavanoid content and its greater radical scavenging and reducing capacity may be due to its higher content of phenolic compounds and flavanoid content. Thus, the therapeutic properties of wild Picrorhiza kurroa leaves may be possibly attributed to the phenolic and flavanoid compounds present. Hence it has been concluded that leaf parts of these plants can also be used as an alternative to other plant parts and acetone can also be used as an alternative to other solvent systems for the detection of phytochemicals.

References

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How to cite this article

Sunayana Singh, P. K. Chauhan**, Avinash, Rahul Thory and Rupak Nagraik (2016). Comparative Evaluation of Phytochemical and in vitro Antioxidant Activities of two Endangered Plant Species of Western Himalayas , Biological Forum – An International Journ