ANTIOXIDANT VITAMINS, MINERALS AND PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING OF CITRULLUS LANATUS(Water melon) AND ZIZIHUS SPHINA CHRISTI(Nabk tree) LEAVES

Abstract

ABSTRACT Medicinal plants have served as a constant source of medicaments, which have great efficiency and demand for the treatment of various diseases because of the bioactive compounds present in them. Medicinal plants have antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal and anti-inflammation activities. This study involves two different medicinal plants Citrillus lanatus and Ziziphus sphina Christi available in Sokoto State. The leaves of these medicinal plants were air dried and then powdered. The aqueous extract of the leaves were used for the phytochemical tests to find the presence and absence of the phytochemicals. This study revealed the presence of various phytochemicals which include alkaloid, tannin, glycoside, steroid, anthaquinones in the two medicinal plants while balsam was absent in the two plants. The concentration of some selected phytochemicals, antioxidant vitamins and minerals were also determined. The study showed that antioxidant vitamin A ,C and E are present on considerable amounts. Minerals that were found to be high in the two plants are calcium and magnesium while iron, copper and zinc were found to present in small amounts in the two plants. The presence of these phytochemicals, antioxidant vitamins and minerals of leaf extract revealed the medicinal value of these plants, Hence proved to be essential in the development of new pharmaceuticals for natural plant-based medicine.