PJB-2019-42
Effect of sun-drying on anti-fungal, anti-yeast and antioxidant potency of Acorus calamus, an indigenous medicinal plant
Bilal Muhammad Khan and Jehan Bakht
Abstract
This study evaluates the antifungal, anti-yeast and antioxidant potency of various extracts from the commercially available rhizome of Acorus calamus. Sun-drying, due to its cost-effectiveness and associated simplicity, is the most usual form of drying for herbal practitioners. This choice of drying regime, however, does not guarantee retention of desired medicinal value in the dried plant material due to volatile and/or light-sensitive nature of many active compounds. Extremely low antifungal activities (25.0% inhibition at 2 mg.well-1 against Rhizopus oryzae) indicated the unsuitability of sun-drying with regards to this activity. The various extracts were, though, moderately effective in controlling the growth of the yeast Candida albicans (59.7% inhibition at 2 mg.disc-1).This suggested that the active ingredients responsible for these activities are highly volatile and/or light sensitive and hence sun-drying should be avoided if the end-product is intended to have antifungal and anti-yeast potency. Conversely, the extracts were highly efficient vis-à-vis DPPH radical scavenging ability (97.8% activity at 250 ppm) suggesting that sun-drying can be employed in such case particularly taking into consideration the lowered energy consumption and swiftness associated with this drying regime. Furthermore, loss of methanol and hexane soluble compounds as a result of sun-drying is suggested by the results of this study.
To Cite this article:
Khan, B.M. and J. Bakht. 2019. Effect of sun-drying on anti-fungal, anti-yeast and antioxidant potency of Acorus calamus, an indigenous medicinal plant. Pak. J. Bot.., 51(1): DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30848/PJB2019-1(42)
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