Nutritive value, phytochemical and antifungal properties of Pergularia tomentosa L. (Asclepiadaceae)

This study was aimed to assess the nutritive value, phytochemical constituents and antifungal activity of leaf, root and stem extracts of Pergularia tomentosa. Chemical composition of leaf, stem and root extracts of the plant were determined using standard methods. Aqueous and organic solvents extracts of the plant parts were screened for antifungal activity using agar dilution method. Phytochemicals detected in the leaf and stem extracts were alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, cyanogenic glycosides, saponins, flavonoids, tannins and anthraquinones. The roots contain trace amounts of cyanogenic glycosides, cardiac glycosides, saponins, tannins and anthraquinones. Mineral element composition of the plant showed higher amount of phosphorus and potassium in the root and stem and sodium, magnesium and calcium in the leaf extracts. All the plant parts used contain high percentages of carbohydrates and crude fibre ranging from 53.27±1.75 to 61.31±2.84% and 16.33±0.29 to 23.17±0.58%, respectively. Lipids (6.83±0.76%), ash (17.17±1.04%) and crude protein contents (6.39±0.17%) were higher in the leaf extracts while the stem was of higher moisture (10.67±0.76%) content. Hexane (HX), Petroleum Ether (PE) and chloroform (CHL) leaf, stem and root extracts were active against all the isolates tested with percentage inhibitions ranging from 41.90±5.63 to 97.52±0.28%. The organic solvent extracts demonstrated near complete inhibitions of the fungal isolates at 8.00 mg mL-1 while the aqueous (AQ) extracts of the plant parts inhibited the growth of the isolates at 27.17±7.79 to 97.45±0.21% with near complete inhibition of the tested isolates also at 8.00 mg mL-1. The results showed that the leaf, root and stem extracts of Pergularia tomentosa have potential nutritional and antifungal uses. © 2007 Asian Network for Scientific Information.