Proximate, phytochemical screening and mineral analyses of Ficur sur forssk leaves and stem bark

Abstract

Natural products such as plants remains the most readily available remedy to many of human problems. The free oxygen we breathe in comes from plants and many more nutritional and health benefits which are yet to be discovered. This is why the proximate analysis, phytochemical screening and mineral content of Ficur sur forssk leaves and stem bark were investigated. The proximate analysis, phytochemical screening and mineral content analysis were carried using standard methods. The proximate analysis of the leaves of revealed; 36.45%, 20.41% and 20.22% for carbohydrate, crude fibre and moisture content while that of the stem bark was 60.12%, 20.35% and 8.37% for carbohydrate, crude fibre and moisture content respectively. The presence of active phytochemical constituents such as alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, saponins, terpenoids, phenolics and eugenols were detected in both leaves and stem bark. Among the minerals present in both leaves and stem bark was potassium which gave the highest concentration of 19.3ppm and 17.7ppm respectively. Others were Na (15.90ppm, 12.60ppm), Ca (1.86ppm, 5.62ppm), Mg (2.91ppm, 1.63ppm), Fe (2.60ppm, 5.30 ppm) and Cr (0.08ppm, 0.05). This study suggests that the plant samples have useful phytochemicals and minerals which can have useful pharmacological effects and also serve as nutritional supplements.