Quantitative Analysis of Proximate and Mineral Composition of A Few Important Medicinal Plants of North East Region.

ABSTRACT

The nutritional potential of five ethno botanically important medicinal plants e.g. Acorous calamus, Corchorous fascicularis, Plantago erosa, Ocimum sanctum and Bryophyllum pinnatum were evaluated in the present study. The plants/herbs collected from different places of North East India were evaluated by determining the Proximate and Mineral composition. Few of these plants are used by the local people of North East India as their food. They have immense medicinal properties as evident from the literature survey. The present study was undertaken to determine their nutritional importance. The results revealed , the crude fat content ranged between 0.64-2.91% ; the crude protein content was higher in the leaves of plantago erosa (21.45 %) followed by Ocimum sanctum (20.84%) and Corchorous fascicularis (18.38%), while the available Nitrogen free extract content was the highest in the leaves of Acorous calamus (75.03%). The nutritive value ranged from 216.25-297.75 kcal/100g in the various edible plants. Among the various micronutrients estimated, iron was present in the highest quantity (36.00- 294.00mg /kg) followed by zinc (0.14-6.06mg/kg) and calcium (0.6-1.9mg /kg).The result indicates that the nutritional values and mineral contents of these medicinal plants under investigation were superior to many commercially used nutritive herbs. Hence, they can be utilized for their nutritional potential.