Abstract
Objective: To understand the mycoflora, phytochemical constituents and antibacterial potential of fresh and stored herbal fruits of selected plants, extensively used in herbal medicines.Methods: Mycoflora analysis of Terminalia bellerica, Phyllanthus emblica and Myristica fragrans fruits was done employing serial dilution method, colony forming unit (CFU) and relative density of each fungi was recorded. The diversity of fungi associated with test fruits was calculated using various diversity indices. Methanol extracts of test fruits was subjected to preliminary phytochemical analysis, presence or absence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, terpenoids, quinones and cardiac glycosides was detected. Antibacterial potential of test fruits was studied by well diffusion method.Results: Fresh fruits were free of fungal contamination, whereas stored fruits were found in association with various fungi. A total of 64 isolates of 29 species belonging to 13 genera were identified from stored fruits. Aspergillus was predominant followed by Penicillium. T. bellerica was highly contaminated (1x105CFU/g). Stored fruits of M. fragrans recorded high fungal diversity with highest Simpson’s diversity index (D-1=0.840) and Shannon-Wiener index (H=2.888). P. emblica exhibited high species richness with high Margalef Richness (R=2.925), Menhinick index (E=1.830) and Berger Parker Dominance (d’=0.418). Phytochemical analysis of fresh and stored fruits did not show a significant difference in the presence or absence of tested phyto-constituents. Stored fruit extract recorded up to 41% increase in antibacterial activity.Conclusion: Results suggests the need of proper training to the herbal material handler’s right from the harvest to retail selling, and also points out the need to assess the fungal contamination of herbal materials before using them for herbal drug manufacture.
Highlights
Plants have been used in the prevention, treatment and cure of disorders and diseases since ancient times [1]
All the specimens were deposited at Centre for Innovative Studies in Herbal Drug technology, DOS in Botany, University of Mysore, Mysuru and voucher number was obtained as MGB-CISHDT-RR-TB-SF-M-0008a, MGB-CISHDT-RR-PE-SF-M-0006a and MGB-CISHDT-RR-MF-SF-M0005a for stored fruits of T. bellerica, P. emblica and M. fragrans
Species of Aspergillus and Penicillium has been reported as the dominant mycoflora in some herbal drug raw materials collected from Tokyo (Japan); Hunan, Hubei and Guangxi province (China); Gwalior (North India) [23,24,25] the results of the present study revealed the same
Summary
Plants have been used in the prevention, treatment and cure of disorders and diseases since ancient times [1]. With the ever-increasing use of herbal medicines worldwide and the rapid expansion of the global market for these herbal materials and preparations, the safety and quality of raw materials have become a major concern for health authorities, pharmaceutical industries and the public [4]. One of the reasons for such problem could be the poor quality of herbal drug raw material and insufficient attention being paid to the quality assurance and control of these herbal medicines. World health organisation (WHO) has developed guidelines for the quality control of herbal drugs which provide a detailed description of the techniques and measures required for the appropriate cultivation and collection of medicinal plants, there is still a lacuna between the available knowledge and implementation, because farmers and other relevant persons like producers, handlers and processors of herbal drugs are not much aware of WHO’s guidelines. The quality control measures are ignored by the practitioners, resulting in an inferior quality of herbal drugs with lots of contaminants like heavy metals, pesticides and microbes [5]
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