Phytochemical and Proximate Contents of Some Medicinal Plants Used in Herbal Medicine under various drying methods

Abstract

Drying is one of the most antique processes to preserve quality of aromatic and medicinal plants. The aim of the study was to evaluate the phytochemical and proximate contents of Annona muricata, Azadirachta indica, Citrus latifolia and Cymbopogon citratus leaves dried variously in the shade, sun and oven (40 ℃ and 100 ℃) using standard analytical methods. The results revealed that the phytochemical and proximate contents vary from species to species and amongst the drying methods. The result of the qualitative phytochemical screening indicated the presence of alkaloids, saponin, flavonoids, tannin, phenol, and terpenoid in all the plant samples. Flavonoids was only observed absent in the 100 ^oC oven-dried leaves samples of C. latifolia and Cymbopogon citratus while anthraquinone was only present in the fresh and shade-dried samples of C. latifolia and C. citratus. In the quantitative phytochemical screening, the quantity of alkaloid was lowest in the fresh samples of all the analysed plants while the highest values for saponin was observed in the 40 ^oC oven dried samples in three quarter of the sampled plants. The result also showed the presence of proximate contents (carbohydrate, crude protein, lipid, moisture, ash, crude fibre), in the sampled leaves dried under the various drying methods. Shade-dried samples showed the highest values for carbohydrate and total ash content while the fresh samples showed highest values for crude lipid and moisture contents. Drying of medicinal plants can affect the proximate and phytochemical compositions which can alter the pharmacological quality of the plants.