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Pak. J. Bot., 46(5): 1703-1707, 2014. |
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Updated: 16-10-14 | ||||
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NUTRITIONAL EVALUATION OF PLANTS OF FAMILY ZYGOPHYLLACEAE AND EUPHORBIACEAE
GHULAM DASTAGIR¹*, FARRUKH HUSSAIN¹ AND KHANZADI FATIMA KHATTAK²
Abstract: The study was conducted with the objective to find out the nutritional value of some selected plants of family Zygophyllaceae and Euphorbiaceae which are traditionally used in different parts of Pakistan. Fresh plants of Fagonia indica Burm. f., Peganum harmala L., Tribulus terrestris L., Chrozophora tinctoria (L.) Raf. and Ricinus communis L., were collected from Peshawar and Attock Hills during June, 2009. It was observed that the average values revealed that P. harmala excelled in high fat, carbohydrate, protein and moisture contents than other two species, therefore it can be considered a good nutritive plant followed by F. indica that contained the highest fibre. The T. terrestris had the maximum protein and gross energy.The differences found in the proximate composition of these medicinal plants might be attributed to the habitat, environment and time of harvest. Chrozophora tinctoria and R. communis revealed variation in various analysed biochemicals. The average values showed that C. tinctoria had high the moisture, ash contents, protein, fats, fibre, carbohydrate and gross energy than its counterpart R. communis. The cultivation of Ricinus communis should be encouraged on large scale for the development of biodiesel that will help people. Its seeds can be helpful for pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food and insecticidal industries.
Key words: Nutritional value, medicinal plants, Zygophyllaceae, Euphorbiaceae,
¹Department of Botany, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan ²Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture, Tarnab, Peshawar, Pakistan *Corresponding author’s e-mail: dastagirbotany@yahoo.com |
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