Proximate composition, phytochemical screening and mineral content studies of leaves extract of Adenanthera pavonina

Abstract

Adenanthera pavonina belongs to the leguminous non-climbing plant, with a very prominent value in food chain and therapeutic medicine of traditional origin. The purpose of this study was to evaluate GC-MS analyzed methanolic leaf extract for proximate analysis, phytochemical screening and mineral content determination in order to authenticate its nutraceutical propensity. The leaves were collected, washed with distilled water, dried under shed and powdered. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, saponin, flavonoids, carbohydrates, anthocyanin and betacyanin, quinones, cardiac glycoside, terpenoids, triterpenoids, coumarin, steroids, and acids while oxalates, phenol and tannins were absent. The results of a proximate analysis revealed that the plant possessed a significant amount of protein (8.050 ± 0.15% %), crude fiber (11.088 ± 0.07%), moisture content (7.135 ± 0.18%), crude fat (0.8459 ± 0.34%), carbohydrates (67.7911 ± 0.85%), ash contents (5.09 ± 0.11%), organic matters (94.91 ± 0.93%) and vitamin A (0.196). Quantitative analysis on mineral content revealed the presence of Mn (125.350 mg/kg), Fe (878.450 mg/kg), Ni (15.850 mg/kg), Cr (15.850 mg/kg), Cu (11.950 mg/kg), Zn (24.500 mg/kg), K (0.721%), Na (0.074%), Ca (0.988%), Mg (0.988%), Magnesium (0.9 (0.730%). The study also showed that cobalt, cadmium, and lead could not be detected due to the detection limits of the instrument. Physicochemical and spectral analysis were carried out using FT-IR and GC-MS to identify the content of each extract and the hypothesized structures were correlated from spectroscopic data.