Comparative Biochemical Analysis of Secondary Metabolites in Commonly Grown Legume Varieties

Abstract

In this research study, quantitative determination of phytoconstituents in seed coat, dehusked raw dal, cooked dal and whole seed of locally grown pulses viz. pigeonpea, lentil, desi and kabuli chickpea, and ricebean was carried out. Among the four treatments of all the pulses, highest yield in methanol was found in ricebean. Total phenolic content (mg GAEg-1) varied from 1.72-103.62 in all of the extracts. Similarly, flavonoids (mg CAEg-1) ranged from 1.13 to 33.66 which also found to be reduced in dehulled and cooked extracts. o-Dihydric phenols, hydrophobic and hydrophilic phenols followed order as: seed coat> whole seed> raw dal> cooked dal. Results obtained by DPPH method showed that free radical scavenging capacities ranged from 53.80 to 92.00% while antioxidant activity ranged from 51.00 to 78.60% by FTC method. A highly significant correlation (plessthan0.05) between antioxidant activities/free radical scavenging efficiencies and phenolic contents as well as flavonoids was observed in most of the extracts under study. The results concluded that the pulse seed extracts may be valuable natural source of secondary metabolites for nutraceutical industry.