Abstract
Inhabitants of Tank and South Waziristan area of Pakistan are facing acute shortage of medicines and food. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the medicinal plants of the area for their nutrient and medicinal values and to recommend their preservation/propagation for medicinal and/or food purposes. The plants investigated were Alhagi maurorum Medik,Datura alba Ness, Chenopodium album L. Tecomella undulata (Sm.), Withania coagulansDunal, Berberis lycium Royle. Proximate parameters like protein, fat, fiber, carbohydrates, moisture contents, ash, and energy values were obtained using Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) methods. Macronutrients (Ca, Mg, Na, and K) and micronutrients (Fe, Cu, Zn, Cr, Cd, Pb, and Ni) were analyzed by employing atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The study showed that Datura album has higher nutrient value thanWithania coagulans and there exist a significant correlation among the results. Further, the plants were found to be useful for medicine and food purpose. Key words: Proximate analysis, protein, fiber, macro- and micro-nutrients, medicinal plants, Tank, South Waziristan area.
Highlights
Market is full of synthetic drugs having high prices, severe side effects and affecting the environment whereas medicinal plants and the drugs derived from them are cheaper in cost, have lesser side effects and popular among the people (Alfawaz et al, 2006)
The low concentration of crude fat and ash was recorded in T. undulata and in W. coagulans; while the high contents were in D. alba and C. album (Table 2)
Non-significant Non-significant Strongly positively correlated Non-significant Non-significant Non-significant Non-significant Weakly negatively correlated Non-significant Non-significant Non-significant Non-significant Weakly positively correlated Significant Non-significant Non-significant Non-significant Moderately negatively correlated Non-significant Non-significant Non-significant found in T. undulata (18.32%) and C. album (15.21%), while the low contents were found in W. coagulans (4.51%) in A. maurorum (3.33%)
Summary
Market is full of synthetic drugs having high prices, severe side effects and affecting the environment whereas medicinal plants and the drugs derived from them are cheaper in cost, have lesser side effects and popular among the people (Alfawaz et al, 2006). Pakistan has biodiversity in climate and in geographical situation and has valuable medicinal plants heritage (Newman et al, 2000), but its flora is neither properly explored for medicinal point of view nor for food value (Shinwari et al, 2000); in spite of the facts that medicinal plants are considered to be mostly rich in nutrients (Farnsworth, 1994). The prevailing situation has provoked us to analyze the bioactive plants with reference to micro and macronutrients and their food values (Shinwari et al, 2004; Hussain et al, 2010). The following plants were selected for analysis based on their utility by natives as medicines and their reported bioactivity. Chenopodium album is antipyretic (Dai et al, 2002), antinociceptic (Kumar et al, 2007), sperm immobilizing agent
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