Comparative study on the proximate, mineral, phytochemicals and antimicrobial analysis of <i>Daniellia oliveri, Leptadenia hastata</i> and <i>Vitex doniana</i> leaves

Abstract

Plant biodiversity contribute significantly to human health. Plants also serve as curing agents since long and also provide basic nutrients like carbohydrate, protein, fibre etc. These nutrients have essential role in supporting human body requirements. The phytochemical constituents and the antimicrobial activity of Daniellia oliveri, Leptadenia hastata and Vitex doniana were investigated to ascertain its biological potentials. The study revealed that Leptadenia hastata contain significantly (p < 0.05) higher moisture content (17.61 ± 0.02%), ash (1.51 ± 0.01%) and crude fibre (2.60 ± 0.09%) compared to the respective values of (10.87 ± 0.02%, 2.42 ± 0.03%), (1.04 ± 0.01%, 1.00 ± 0.00%) and (2.49 ± 0.01%, 2.42 ± 0.03%) for Vitex doniana and Daniellia oliveri. While Daniellia oliveri contain significantly (p < 0.05) higher crude protein (25.03 ± 0.26%) and fat content (6.86 ± 0.04%) compared to (17.96 ± 0.07%, 7.85 ± 0.05%) and (5.42 ± 0.02%, 4.31 ± 0.01%) for Leptadenia hastata and Vitex doniana. On the other hand, the carbohydrate content was significantly (p < 0.05) higher for Vitex doniana (73.44 ± 0.01%) than 62.27 ± 0.37% for Daniellia oliveri and 54.88 ± 0.27% for Leptadenia hastata. The calculated energy (4.1094kcal/100g) for Daniellia oliveri was  significantly (p < 0.05) higher compared to (3.6395kcal/100g), (3.4014kcal/100g) for Vitex Doniana and Leptadenia hastata leaves. Mineral elements concentrations were low in all the three samples except for phosphorous. This study revealed that the three samples contained flavonoids, saponins, alkaloids, carbohydrate, cardiac glycoside, phenols and tannins. The result of the antimicrobial analysis reveals that all the samples were very effective against S. aureus with MIC ranging from 0.4-0.8 μg/ml and also against K. pneumoniae with MIC ranging from 0.6-1.4 μg/ml. The results obtained indicates that these leaves have antimicrobial importance and can be utilized in the treatment of some ailments and malnutrition.