Vol. 10, Special Issue 12 (2021)

Author(s):
MJ Raja, A Arivuchelvan and A Jagadeeswaran

Abstract:
Usage of herbs is increasing in recent days in living beings because of their promising therapeutic potentials. The tremendous need of herbs has boosted the commercialization of its production, globally. Phytocomponents are chemical metabolites produced by plants and they are responsible for pharmacological actions. The quality and quantity of such metabolites are determined by many factors, predominantly-the environment. Hence, consideration of place where the herbs are procured and factors (such as rainfall, temperature, altitude, soil, sunlight etc.) which influence the environment are gaining more importance as quality determinants. The present study aimed to explore the impact of environment on the phytochemistry especially on the concentrations of phytochemicals of Kedrostis foetidissima (Jacq.) Cogn. The herb of Cucurbitaceae family having many pharmacological properties was collected from Coimbatore and Namakkal districts of Tamil Nadu where the environment is significantly different. The ethanolic extract of the whole plant was used for qualitative and quantification of phytochemicals. On qualitative phytochemical analysis, herb of different places showed up similar metabolites, but the herb from Coimbatore district showed enriched level of terpenoids, saponins, tannins, phenols, steroids, flavonoids and alkaloids than the herb of Namakkal district. On quantitative study, ethanolic extract of Kedrostis foetidissima (Jacq.) Cogn. Collected from Coimbatore district showed significant difference in the concentration levels of alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, terpenoids, tannins, saponins and steroids than the herb collected from Namakkal district. This study proved the influence of environment factors on the expression of plant metabolites level and also suggested the importance of consideration of such factors in the procurement of herbs for therapy.