Original Articles: 2012 Vol: 4 Issue: 5
Chemical and Proximate Contents of methanolic leaf extract of Piliostigma Thonningii schum (Camel foot)
Abstract
This study aims at investigating the phytochemical, elemental and proximate contents of the leaves of Piliostigma Thonningii schum. The air dried ground matter (500g) was macerated with 75% methanol for five days filtered and concentrates in vacuo using rotary evaporator. The extract concentrate yield was estimated in percentage w/w. The methanolic extracts were subjected to preliminary phytochemical analysis using standard procedures. Elemental contents of the leaf of P. Thonningi were determined using atomic absorption and flame emission spectroscopy. The proximate contents; ash, crude fibre, crude protein, carbohydrate, ether extract, dry matter and moisture content of the leaves of Piliostigma thonningii schum were also evaluated using standard protocols. The methanolic extract concentrate yield is 11.76w/w. Preliminary phytochemical analysis indicates the presence of tannin, saponins, terpeniods, flavonoids, carbohydrates and cardiac glycosides. Elemental content analysis P. thonningii leaves indicates that that the concentration of iron (Fe) in P. thonningii appeared to be within safety limits reported by World Health Organization (1996). However the concentration of Nickel (Ni) is slightly above the WHO recommended level. Mangnese (Mn), Copper (Cu), Chromium (Cr), Magnesium (Mg) Zinc (Zn) and Calcium (Ca) occur in low concentration. Na and As were not detected. Also Non-essential and toxic metals such as Pb and Cd were not detected The result of the proximate contents shows that the dry matter has the highest percentage of 95.4%, the moisture content is 6.12%, carbohydrate has 65.28% while crude fibre has a percentage of 20.00%, ash 4%, crude Protein 6.12% and ether 1%.