Antioxidant and anti-termite activities of the ethanol extract of cibotium barometz (L.) J. Sm.

Abstract

The antioxidant and anti-termite activities have been considered on the ethanol extract of Cibotium barometz (L.) J. Sm rhizome. An antioxidant assessment was carried out using the DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) method and measured the absorbance at λ = 517 nm. An anti-termite assay was carried out by the force-feeding method using concentrations of 0, 10, 20, and 30 ppm. The results of phytochemical screening indicated that the extracts contained secondary metabolites of flavonoids, polyphenols, tannins, saponins, steroids, and triterpenoids. The antioxidant trial for which data were processed by the linear regression showed IC50 values of 8.20 and 5.04 ppm for the extracts and the vitamin C (as a standard) respectively. The IC50 value of the ethanol extract of the C. barometz rhizome exhibited the strongest antioxidant activity. The anti-termite assay whose data was processed by the Trimmed Spearman-Karber (TSK) program showed an LC50 value of 28.88 ppm. The termite mortality data for 96 hours were analyzed statistically using one way ANOVA with α = 0.05 demonstrated that the given treatments exposed very significant differences in termite mortality [F(3, 16) = 293, p <0.0001]. Based on the results of the study, it might be firmed that the ethanol extract of C. barometz rhizome could be exploited as antioxidant and anti-termite stuff.