Phytochemical Screening and Antioxidant Property of the Methanol Extract of Spear Grass (Heteropogon contortus L.)

Abstract

Plants are not only indispensable in health care but form the best hope of source for safe future medicines. In spite of the fact that now we have at our disposal a number of modern drugs, it is still genuinely urgent to discover and develop new therapeutic agents. The objective of the study is to determine the secondary metabolites and antioxidant activity of the methanol extract of Heteropogon contortus. The phytochemical analysis of the crude plant extract of Heteropogon contortus was performed using standard analytical method while the antioxidant activity of the extract was done using DPPH method of analysis. The study recorded yield of 9.22% for the methanol extract. Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of seven secondary metabolites out of the nine metabolites screened for. The result of antioxidant activity of the crude extract showed good activity with an increase in the percentage inhibition on increase in concentration with the highest percentage inhibition of 57.16±53% at 500 mg/ml this was quite comparable to that of the standard (ascorbic acid) which had percentage inhibition at 500 mg/ml to be 67±32%. In conclusion the findings of the study showed that the methanol extract of H. contortus has an appreciable antioxidant activity which could be attributed to the secondary metabolites which it contains.