PHYTOCONSTITUENTS AND NUTRITION POTENTIAL OF Malacantha alnifolia (SAPOTACEAE)

Abstract

Malacantha alnifolia has been widely utilized in traditional medicine, but reports on its phytoconstituents are scarce in literature. The roots were collected, shade dried, extracted with n-hexane and chromatographed on silica gel packed column. GC-MS experiment conducted on compounds obtained from n-hexane extract of M. alnifolia exhibited three known fatty acids: tridecanoic acid (1), pentadecanoic acid (2) and octadecenoic (oleic) acid (3); alongside a cyclic ester (heptadecanolide, 4) and an unsaturated monoglyceride (Z, Z 9,12-octadecadienoic acid, 5). Quantitative estimation of the phytochemicals in the pulverized roots of M. alnifolia revealed steroids (43.74±1.00 mg/100g), saponnins (9.69 ± 1.25 mg/100g) and alkaloids (8.61± 1.20 mg/100g). Mineral estimation of the roots sample afforded Ca (144.27± 2.50 ppm), Fe (4.23 ± 0.25 ppm), Pb (0.06 ± 0.01 ppm), Zn (0.61 ± 0.05 ppm), Cu (1.00 ± 0.20 ppm), P (7.25 ± 0.70 ppm) and Mg (118.13 ± 3.30 ppm). Proximate estimation revealed that M. alnifolia contained crude fibre (6.85± 0.30 %), ash content (19.6 ± 1.10 %), dry matter (9.00 ± 0.50 %), moisture content (13.61± 0.20 %), crude fat (49.20 ±1.30 %) and crude protein (5.39 ± 0.40 %). The results obtained in this study confirmed nutrition potentials of M. alnifolia. The roots of the plant can also be a good source of fat and the presence of important phytochemicals in the plant provides scientific justification attributable to its folkloric application in traditional medicine in South-Western Nigeria.. Key words:  Malacantha alnifolia root extracts, tridecanoic acid, Pentadecanoic acid, heptadecanoic acid, proximate analysis, nutrient content