ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PHYTOCHEMICALS IN STEM BARKS AND ROOTS OF Calotropis procera (R. BR.), AITON W. T. IN SOME STATES OF NIGERIA.
Authors
Lakwannum
G. Y.
2 Olorunmaiye
K. S.,
2 Joshua
D. Buah
2 Elizabeth K. Ale
3 Bako
S. P.
Keywords:
Ecology, phytochemicals, extractants, extraction, shrub, solubility, va riability.
Abstract
Analysis of the Phytochemicals of Calotropis procera in Ilorin and Gombe metropolises has been
carried out. 20 freshly ma
tured plants was sampled from each location the stem barks and roots
were collected from East and West of the two metropolises, dried under shade and pulverised to
powder using mortar and pestle, it was extracted using water, methanol and ethanol. The crud
e
extracts was screened for Phytochemicals. Results revealed presences of alkaloids, flavonoids,
saponins, tannin steroids, terpenoids, and glycosides
in both selected parts with variations.
Simple descriptive statistics was employed and further subjected
to analysis of variance
(ANOVA) to reveal the variability of the extractants or solvents used both within and between
the metropolises. The results shows significant difference in all the extractants for stem barks
and roots at
(α = 0.05) with p
-
values as 0.003, 0.020, 0.00 and 0.053, 0.005 and 0.000. for water,
methanol and ethanol extracts respectively. A paired t
-
test was used to compare the
Phytochemicals between the metropolises, and there was a significant difference at (α
= 0.05).
For roots (0.277), and no Significant difference was observed in stem bark (0.002). The ethno
botanical information collected revealed that Calotropis procera are commonly used as medicine,
firewood, food and as fodder.
The variability observed i
n the occurrence of the Phytochemicals
might be attributed to the ability of the solvent to dissolve, differences in the age of the plant, and
soil types in the study area.