65. Nutritional, phytochemical and content variation of essential trace element in selected folk medicinal plants around Lahore, Pakistan
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Abstract
The aim of the present study was to determine the nutritional, phytochemical and trace element contents in fourteen medicinal plants used in Lahore (Pakistan) to cure a wide range of ailments. Microwave acid digestion method and flame atomic absorption spectrometry has been used to estimate the levels of four essential trace elements (iron, chromium, nickel and zinc) while muffle furnace and Kjeldahl methods were used for nutritional and phytochemical characteristics (ash, moisture, carbohydrate, crude protein, crude fats, alkaloid, flavonoid and saponin). The levels of trace elements in studied plants has shown a trend as Fe>Zn>Cr>Ni. The ash and moisture content were found to be highest in Bambusa arundinaceae (29.0 ± 0.03%) and Adiantum capillus (9.03 ± 0.41%) respectively, whereas the highest levels of carbohydrate, crude protein and crude fat were observed in Punica granatum (82.08±0.59%), Pistacia lentiscus (8.35 ± 0.01%) and Pongamia pinnata (2.73 ± 0.06%). In case of alkaloids, flavonoid and saponin the highest values were found in Abroma agusta (0.77 ± 0.01 %), Quereus infectoria (0.78 ± 0.02%) and Tinospora cordifolia (2.48 ± 0.02%) respectively followed by other plants. The present study provides baseline data on levels of essential trace elements, nutritional and phytochemical contents in medicinal plants commonly used for treating different ailments.
Keywords: Atomic absorption spectrophotometry; Medicinal plants; Microwave digestion; Nutritional values; Proximate analysis; Trace elements