Ajuru M. G., Nmom F. W., Kpekot A. K., Morris E. I., Macfarlane O. M. DOWNLOAD PDF
Abstract
The plant, A. gangetica is a rapidly growing perennial, shrubby herb of about 1m in height and can be found along roadsides, cultivated areas and river banks. It belongs to the family Acanthaceae and is a dicotyledonous flowering plant. Comparative study on the Proximate and phytochemical compositions of the root and leaf of A. gangatica (Chinese Violet) was carried out in the Department of plant Science and Biotechnology, Rivers State University, using standard methods. Data obtained in this study were subjected to one way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results of the proximate compositionshowed highest quantity of carbohydrate, protein, lipid, and ash in the leaves of A. gangetica while the root was observed to have the highest amount of moisture. Results of phytochemical screening revealed the occurrence of tannin, saponin, phytate, flavonoid, alkaloid and cyanogenic glycoside in both the root and leaf of the plants. However, highest values of tannin (148.75 ± 0.00), saponin (5.61± 0.01), flavonoid (13.18± 0.00), alkaloid (15.93± 0.01) and cyanogenic glycoside (120± 0.00) were recorded for the leaf samples whereas the root sample was only highest in phytate content (19.43± 0.01). Generally, there is a significant difference between the phytochemical compositions of both parts of A. gengentica as the leaf recorded more phytochemical concentration than the root at P≤ 0.05. The results of this study indicated that A. gangetica is of nutritional, medicinal and veterinary importance considering its diverse uses for ethnopharmacological purposes in different parts of the world. Pharmaceutical industries could exploit these phytochemicals and use them for the production of drugs.
Keywords: Acanthaceae, Asystasia gangatica, Leaves, Phytochemicals, Proximate Composition, Roots