Phytochemistry and proximate composition of root, stem bark, leaf and fruit of desert date, Balanites aegyptiaca

Abstract

Balanites aegyptiaca or Desert date is a common plant in all dry lands of Africa and South Asia. Some parts of the plant are used as fish poisons but not poisonous to man. It is also used as medicine or food in humans as well as insect repellent. Four parts of the plant were phytochemically and proximately screened to determine whether the bioactive compounds can be utilized in sedation or anaesthetization of fish as well as supplementation of fish nutrition. The root, stem bark, leaf and fruit of the plant were screened using petroleum ether, methanol, chloroform ethanol and water as solvents. Proximate analysis to determine proximate composition of the parts of the plant was also conducted. Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of alkanoids, flavonoids, tanins, saponins, terpens & steroids, cardiac glycosides, balsam, carbohydrates, phenols in the root and fruit. There was absence of alkanoids, flavonoids, balsam, and carbohydrates in the stem bark. The leaf confirmed the aforementioned phytochemicals except cardiac glycoside. The proximate analysis showed low percentage crude protein composition in all the plant parts [Leaf (22.94%), fruit (15.63%), root (12.81%) and stem (6.94%)]. Moisture content of the plant was also low with fruit having the highest (4.56%) and the leaf with the lowest (2.69%). The results of this work provide evidence that the bioactive compounds of the root, leaf and fruit could be utilized in sedation and anaesthetization of fish while the proximate composition was not suitable for supplementation in fish nutrition

Assessment of Phytochemical, Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activity of Balanites Aegyptiaca and Curcuma Longa against Some Bacterial Pathogens Isolated from Dairy Cow Infected with Mastitis

“…It was slightly similar to the observations of Henna et al ( 2010), who reported the presence of the same phytochemicals in the AE-BAF except steroids and alkaloids were not detected in their study. This is in line with other phytochemical study of Wakawa et al (2018), who demonstrated the same in the AE-BAF, except cardiac glycosides and alkaloids were not detected in their study.…”

Can Electrochemical Sensors Be Used for Identification and Phylogenetic Studies in Lamiaceae?

“…In addition, this could be caused by reasonable differences in the electrochemically active substances in different plant leaves. Plant leaves can have certain differences in their chemical composition because of the different light areas received [19], the different heights of growth [20], etc. It can be seen from the electrochemical fingerprint that all species exhibited oxidation peaks in the anodic scan, which was caused by the oxidation of some electrochemically active substances, such as flavonoids and polyphenols [21,22], in leaf tissues.…”

A Comparative Study of The Secondary Metabolite from Talinum triangulare (jacq.) Willd. Methanolic Extract From Malang and Kediri, East Java

“…The tip of leaves of Talinum triangulare is obtuse compared with T. paniculatum. The petal color of T. triangulare is darker and larger in size than T. paniculatum [4].…”

“…One milliliter of the extract was taken and diluted with 1 mL of distilled water. The sample contains saponins if the foam is present after shaking [4]. The absorbance was measured by a spectrophotometer at 435 nm [11].…”