Abstract

PRELIMINARY PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING OF SPINACIA OLERACEA L

K.N.V. Rao*, Bushra Tabassum, S. Raghu Babu, Alagara Raja, David Banji.

ABSTRACT

Spinacia oleracea in an annual herb belongs to the family Chenopodiaceae and it is widely distributed,cultivated in India. The whole plant is medicinally important. Thus the present study is conducted to identify the presence of phytochemical constituents. The fresh and dried leaves of Spinacia oleracea were subjected to cold maceration. In this method 2 polar solvents are used i. e water and ethanol. All the four extracts were found to be rich in bio active compounds like flavonoids, carbohydrates-reducing sugars, monosaccharides, glycosides of cardiac, coumarins, anthraquinones, and steroids. In this study effect of drying and effect of solvent on extractability is determined. The extractability is more in fresh leaves than the dried leaves. And in the solvents the extractability is more in water compared to ethanol. There is no effect of drying on phytochemical constituents of fresh and dried leaves of Spinacia oleracea.

Keywords: Spinacia oleracea leaves, effect of drying, effect of solvent on extractability, preliminary phytochemical screening.