Anatomical studies and nutritional analysis of the leaf extract of Plukenetia conophora

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Year 2017 Vol 6 Issue 1
Document Type : Original Article
¹C.E.C. Ugwoke, ²SPG Anze, ³C.V. Obisike, ⁴A.E. Nweze
¹Department of Pharmacognosy and Environmental Medicines, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nigeria
²Department of Pharmacognosy and Environmental Medicines, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nigeria
³Department of Pharmacognosy and Environmental Medicines, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nigeria
⁴Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nigeria
Abstract
Plukenetia conophora Mull. Arg. (African walnut) belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family. The significance of wood anatomy in relation to taxonomy is by no means new or recent.
The work evaluates the anatomy of the leaf, stem, root and the nutritional values of the leaves of Plukenetia conophora.
Leaf epidermal strips were made by Impression technique and all sectionings (TS, TLS and RLS) were made with Reichert sliding microtome. Standard stains were used to differentiate the tissues. The proximate and mineral analyses were carried out using standard methods.
Anatomical studies showed hypostomatic leaves with anomocytic stomata and no trichomes. Concentric vascular bundles were observed in the transverse sections of the leaf and petiole. The various sections of the stem anatomy revealed diffuse-in-aggregate vessels with scanty axial parenchyma in the transverse section, both uniseriate and biseriate rays in the transverse longitudinal section, and procumbent rays in the radial longitudinal section. Nutritional analysis showed presence of all the tested proximate and minerals. The leaves contained proximate: carbohydrates (25.57 ± 0.05), protein (18.02 ± 0.02), ash (29.36 ± 0.33), moisture (18.06 ± 0.03), crude fibre (9.83 ± 0.17) and fat (7.41 ± 0.11) and minerals: calcium (19.18 ± 0.00), potassium (14.01 ± 0.00) and sodium (7.97 ± 0.03), Zinc (0.70 ± 0.01), magnesium (1.91 ± 0.01), iron (4.93 ± 0.04) and manganese (0.91 ± 0.00). Conclusion: The anatomical results are quite useful in the delimitation of this species and nutritional results suggest the use of the leaves as a healthy food
Keywords
Plukenetia conophora, Anatomical sectioning, Staining, Proximate analysis
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