Survey, collection and characterization of 'Kizharnelli' (Phyllanthus spp.) of Kerala
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Date
2015
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Department of plantation crops and spices, College of horticulture, Vellanikkara
Abstract
An investigation on “Survey, collection and characterization of „Kizharnelli‟ (Phyllanthus spp.) of Kerala”, was carried out at the Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, and CARe KERALAM, Koratty, Thrissur during 2013-2014, with the objective of morphological and phytochemical characterization of Phyllanthus accessions collected after surveying select locations of Kerala and assessment of quality of traded crude drug of Phyllanthus by detecting species admixtures and estimating phytochemical constituents. Genus Phyllanthus belonging to the family Phyllanthaceae, consists of about 833 species and is chiefly distributed in moist humid tropics. The most wide spread species of this genus, P. amarus, reputed for its hepatoprotective activity which contain phyllanthin and hypophyllanthin and is used in traditional medicine against jaundice. Other commonly ocuuring herbaceous Phyllanthus spp. of Kerala are P. virgatus var. virgatus, P.virgatus var. gardnerianus, P. rheedei, P. airy-shawii, P. maderaspatensis and P. urinaria. Taxomonic confusion exists in identification of these herbaceous Phyllanthus spp., mainly due to their similarity in gross morphology, close proximity in growth habitat as well as referring them with a common vernacular name, „Kizharnelli‟. Preponderance of other Phyllanthus spp. often leads to ignorant as well as deliberate adulteration/substitution in its raw drugs, resulting in lowering the efficacy of the medication. Other Phyllanthus species have not been subjected to in-depth phytochemical and clinical investigations. A total of fourty seven Phyllanthus accessions were collected from coastal regions, plains, midlands and high ranges of southern, central and northern zones of Kerala, of which, seventeen accessions were from southern zone, fourteen from central and sixteen from northern zones. The collected Phyllanthus accessions were decoded into respective species based on the key characters of herbaceous Phyllanthus spp. described in Flora of Madras Presidency. Out of the fifteen qualitative characters observed, no notable variability was observed for six qualitative characters viz., growth habit, branching pattern, leaf margin, flower colour, capsule colour and capsule shape. Erect growth habit, spreading branching pattern, entire leaf margin, depressed globose capsule shape, pale green flower colour and yellowish green capsule colour were noticed in all the accessions. Stem colour, leaflet colour, rachis colour, leaflet shape, leaflet apex, leaflet base and peduncle colour were highly varying among the accessions. The lone accession of P. maderaspatensis had obcordate leaf apex. P. virgatus var. gardnerianus and P. virgatus var. virgatus were observed to have longest pedicel length (1.0 cm), while rest of the Phyllanthus spp. had a pedicel length of 0.1 cm. P.amarus had five sepals and rest of the species, six. Highest plant height (90.1 cm), fresh weight (16.21 g) and dry weight (13.81 g) were observed for P. virgatus var. gardnerianus. Broadest leaves were observed in P. rheedei, and longest leaflets (2.01 – 2.21 cm) in P. virgatus var. gardnerianus and P. virgatus var. virgatus. The accessions of P. urinaria (22.1 – 28.8 cm) registered shortest stems length. P. amarus was distributed equally in the three zones surveyed and P. urinaria was predominantly observed in southern and central zones. Lone accession of P. maderaspatensis was observed in southern zone. P. virgatus var. virgatus was not represented at all in southern zone. The northern zone had representations of all herbaceous species of Phyllanthus under study, except P. maderaspatensis. P. amarus was equally distributed in coastal regions, plains, midlands and high ranges. P. virgatus var. gardnerianus had representation only in high ranges, while P. maderaspatensis was represented only in coastal regions. Coastal regions represented fewer species of Phyllanthus, while, high ranges registered maximum representation of herbaceous Phyllanthus species. Clustering of Phyllanthus accessions based on morphological parameters revealed that P. urinaria, P. airy-shawii, and P. amarus occurred in more than one cluster which indicates the presence of morphovariants in them. P. maderapatensis and P. rheedei formed single separate clusters indicating their individual morphological identity. Altitude wise clustering based on morphological parameters also presented a similar clustering pattern. In species wise assessment of growth and yield parameters of collected accessions during pot culture, P. amarus and P. urinaria, recorded significant differences, only with respect to plant height, wherein, accessions from coastal and midlands were rated superior in P. amarus. With respect to number of leaflets, P. virgatus var. virgatus from midlands of central zone was significantly superior. Biochemical characterization of Phyllanthus accessions revealed highest contents of total extractives (0.55 g to 0.61g) and phyllanthin (0.32 - 0.46 %) in P. amarus. Phyllanthin was absent in P. urinaria. Maximum content of phenol was recorded in P. airy-shawii (232.1 -252.1 mg g-1) followed by P. urinaria (196.2 -221.2 mg g-1). P. airy-shawii recorded lowest EC50 value (211.3 to 222.3 μg ml-1), indicating highest antioxidant capacity. A positive correlation noticed between total phenol content and antioxidant capacity. Clustering of Phyllanthus spp. in central zone based on biochemical parameters grouped, P. rheedei and P. virgatus var. virgatus in a single cluster while, they existed in separate clusters during clustering based on morphological parameters. Thus, morphologically dissimilar Phyllanthus spp. possess comparable contents of active ingredients. Hence, from the therapuetic point of view, substitution is possible between the species that are clustered together based on contents of active ingredients. Clustering based on temporal sites revealed that altitude can influence the content of certain active ingredients of Phyllanthus spp. During organoleptic evaluation of raw drug samples RD-1 and RD-2, the raw drug sample RD-1, was superior, devoid of any species admixtures. In the raw drug sample RD-2, though the predominant species was P. amarus, presence of P. airy-shawii was detected. The biochemical parameters of raw samples of Phyllanthus from RD-1 and RD-2 did not register any appreciable difference with the reference sample, with respect to all biochemical parameters studied.
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