Maharana Pratap and Jyoti Sardana
Abstract
Fagonia schweinfurthii H. commonly identifid as Dhamasa, holds significance as an important medicinal species within the Zygophyllaceae family. They populate dry, desert areas all around the globe. It is distributed in different states of India, including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Tamil-Nadu. The present work aimed to identify and analyze the bioactive compounds, total flavonoid and phenolic content of in vivo plant parts (stem and leaf) and in vitro derived callus of F. schweinfurthii H. in petroleum ether, chloroform, acetone, ethanol, methanol and aqueous extracts by spectrophotometric method. Alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, phytosterols, cardiac glycosides, triterpenoids, tannins and phenolic compounds were observed in the preliminary phytochemical analysis. Total flavonoid and phenolic content in different solvent extracts were determined as compared to standard quercetin and gallic acid, respectively. Both the highest concentration of flavonoids (40.33ñ0.88) mg QE/g and phenol (93.54ñ0.26) mg GAE/g was found in methanolic extract of callus. The presence of these biologically active substances indicates the therapeutic significance of the plant. Experimental results indicated that in vitro derived callus of F. schweinfurthii H. could be a promising reservoir of bioactive compounds to be utilized on an industrial scale for therapeutic purposes.