Comparative Pharmacognostical and Phytochemical Account of the Peel and Pulp of the Fruit of C. pepo

Abstract

The current investigation was performed to explore the phytochemicals and pharmacognostic activity in the pulp and peel part of the fruit of Cucurbita pepo. The most important stage in determining the identification of a crude medicine and assessing its quality and purity is pharmacognostic assessment. The parameters such as acid-insoluble, water-soluble, total ash value, extractive value, and moisture content were determined. Fluorescence characterization and phytochemical screening were also done to know the presence of various phytocompounds. The phytochemical investigation revealed therapeutic components in the peel and pulp extracts of C. pepo. The ash value of peel and pulp was 6.9 ± 0.17 and 5.8 ± 0.07, the insoluble acid value was 2.9 ± 0.10 and 1.7 ± 0.05, and the water-insoluble value was 3.6 ± 0.41 and 2.4 ± 0.10 respectively. The moisture content of peel and pulp was determined to be 0.249±0.022gm and 0.256±0.025 gm, respectively, while the extractive values were observed as 23.71±1.25 in methanolic extract of peel whereas 55.44±2.019 in aqueous extract of pulp.