Effect of geographical distributions on the nutrient composition, phytochemical profile and antioxidant activity of Moms nigra

Recent worldwide inclination for the consumption of natural compounds has extremely augmented the significance of persistent quality of plant materials. Consequently, there is an escalating scientific concern in the impact of geographical distributions of the plants on their chemical constituents, physical characteristics and biological activities. The current study was carried out to see the effect of geographical locations on the nutrient composition, mineral contents, phytochemical profile and free radical scavenging activity of Morus nigra fruit. The samples were collected from five different locations of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which included districts of D. I. Khan, Karak, Peshawar, Swabi and Swat. The results revealed the considerable impact of geographical locations on the levels of proximate nutrient and selected minerals. Likewise, the concentrations of phenolic, flavonoid, anthocyanin and alkaloidal contents varied significantly [p<0.05] with respect to their geographical distributions. The physicochemical characteristic, extraction yields and DPPH scavenging activity of the samples also showed strong link with the sites of their cultivation. The data suggest that geographical distributions affect the levels of phytochemicals and conversely their biological activities. These variations must be taken into consideration while utilizing raw plant materials for industrial applications and traditional therapies

Nutrient composition, phenolic content and free radical scavenging activity of some uncommon vegetables of Pakistan

Vegetables play a vital role in the prevention of human disease and in the improvement of general health as these contain vitamins, amino acids, fiber, antioxidants and minerals. In the present study, some less familiar vegetables of Pakistan namely chickpea [leaves], chungah [shoots], drumstick tree [inflorescences], radish [fruit pods], mountain ebony [flower buds], mustard [leaves], purslane [leaves] and white goosefoot [leaves and shoots] were evaluated for proximate composition, mineral content, phenolic content and free radical scavenging activity. The protein, fat, fiber, carbohydrate and ash contents of the selected vegetables were in the range of 2.9 to 6.6%, 0.2 to 2.5%, 2.4 to 8.6%, 9.7 to 20.1% and 1.0 to 2.3%, respectively. The concentration of vitamin C ranged between 32.6 to 120.1 mg/100 g. The phosphorus, calcium, iron, zinc, manganese, magnesium and copper were 190 to 3400, 103 to 987, 19 to 93, 12 to 47, 9 to 121, 299 to 1635 and non detectable level to 42 mg/kg, respectively. The amount of total phenolic content varied from 55.3 to 221.0 mg/g in the dry methanolic extracts of the studied plants. The EC[50] values were below 1400 [ig/ml, indicating that all the studied vegetables have good scavenging effect on DPPH radical