Phytochemical characterization of moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) using Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)

Author: Shubhada Tayade, G.J. Janavi, T. Arumugam, B. Rajagopal and P. Geetharani

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Abstract

The family Moringaceae includes the significant tropical vegetable and herb known as Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam), which is valued for its therapeutic, dietary, industrial, agricultural, and socioeconomic properties. This genus is indigenous to India and contains 13 species that have been raised in the wild for their diverse virtues across Asia, Africa, and other parts of the world. Each part of moringa plant is a clandestine source of nutrients that are essential for human growth and development, yet this virtuous plant is not completed exploited in this area of application. Even after moringa being the cradle of many more biochemicals and nutrients, majority of studies in moringa has been done with regards to only Quercetin and Vitamin- C. Moringa also exists in many wild and undomesticated forms in India which needs to discovered. This study exploits the potential of ten moringa genotypes raised at Horticultural College & Research Institute, Tamilnadu Agricultural University, Tamil Nadu, for biochemical characterization, which was performed by employing Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry. The result of this investigation validates the presence of biochemical compounds in the leaves of Moringa oleifera, which are of high medicinal and therapeutic value and approve its position among the Superfoods. The biochemical compounds like Vitamin C, Quercetin, Kaemferol, Phytol, Tryptophan, Nicotinamide, Serotonin, Chlorogenic Acid, Niazimin, β- Sitosterol, IAA and Gallic Acid have been reported to prevent and alleviate may chronic conditions are found to the present in the moringa leaves, among which Vitamin C and Quercetin were found to be predominant in these genotypes, followed by Tryptophan and Kaemferol in the genotypes studied. Moringa genotypes PKM MO 48 and PKM MO 47 have been found to have significantly more biochemical compounds in them.

Keywords

Moringa, superfood, GC-MS, phytochemical compounds, PKM

Conclusion

Ten most diverse moringa genotypes were chosen for GCMS assay to validate the rich biochemical and nutritional nature of Moringa oleifera species. The bioactive compounds viz., Vitamin C, Quercetin, Kaemferol, Phytol, Tryptophan, Nicotinamide, Serotonin, Chlorogenic Acid, Niazimin, β- Sitosterol, IAA & Gallic Acid were selected for characterizing the moringa genotypes. The GCMS Chromatogram revealed the presence of the selected twelve biochemical compounds in genotypes PKM MO 48, PKM 49 and PKM MO 46 making them wholesome source of these nutritional compounds. Moringa genotype PKM MO 48 graphically covered larger area in terms of all biochemical compounds followed by moringa genotype PKM MO 47 and PKM MO 46. The Chromatogram showed the presence of all the biochemical compounds in variety PKM 1, PKM 2, ROHIT and genotype PKM MO 65 making them wholesome source of these nutritional compounds. Moringa includes more than 20,000 chemical compounds according to GC-MS assay done in this investigation and therefore study of those compounds is highly encouraged to bring a medical revolution which is aided by moringa species also, safer and natural plant based medicines can be derived from it.

References

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How to cite this article

Shubhada Tayade, G.J. Janavi, T. Arumugam, B. Rajagopal and P. Geetharani (2022). Phytochemical characterization of moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) using Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(4): 1209-1220.