Abstract:
Arachis hypogaea, a member of legume family is commonly known as Peanut, groundnut and moongphali in Pakistan. Groundnut is the key cash crop in Pothowar region. It is most important crop of barani areas and is an excellent source of edible oil and protein. It was grown on an area of about 92,800 hectors with the yield of 85,500 tones and production of 921 kg/h during 2008 to 2009.
In view of its great importance the crop needs consideration for evolving its new therapeutic uses and phytochemicals. This experimental study was designed to investigate the phytochemical potential of seeds of different groundnut varieties grown in Pakistan. Seeds were grinded to powder form which was subjected to both maceration and soxhlet extraction. Organic extracts were analysed for qualitative and quantitative Phytochemical investigation. Phytochemical separation was carried out through thin layer chromatography(TLC).Spectrophotometeric method was used to measure Total flavonoid content (TFC) and DPPH scavenging activity. Percentage of DPPH radical scavenging and IC 50 Values (µg/ml) revealed the Antioxidant activity of extracts.
Ethanolic extract were subjected to Phytochemical screening that exposed the presence of flavonoids , steroids, tannins, terpenoids, diterpenes, Saponins, Cardiac glycosides, Coumarines and Leucoanthocynines. Rf values of isolated spots on thin layer Chromatographic sheets were 0.1and0.78 in most of the varieties which has been compared with standard rutin and quercetin. The total flavonoid content ranged from 1.71 to 4.2 mgQuerectinequvilent/grame. Percentage of DPPH free radical scavenging varied from 60 to 94.2%. Arachis hypogaea variety PG1162 showed highest flavonoid content and radical scavenging activity . Noteworthy linear correlation was established between the values of TFC and antioxidant activity of seed extracts. So seeds are capable of being potential ,valuable and cheaper natural source of antioxidants rather than synthetic ones.
