Biochemical Evaluation of Socio-culturally Important Wild Plants in Eastern Himalayas of Arunachal Pradesh

The current study intended to evaluate and validate the correlation between nutritional and antioxidant properties with their ethnomedicinal uses of four commonly used wild plants namely Clerodendrum colebrookianum (Oyin), Pouzolzia bennettianum (Oyik), Zanthoxylum rhetsa (Onyor), Mussaenda glabra (Taksap) among the Galo community of Arunachal Pradesh. Results revealed that carbohydrate and starch content were highest in M. glabra (169.5± 0.2 μg/ml) and Z. rhetsa (13.6 ± 0.2 μg/ml) respectively. Protein, phenol and ascorbic acid were recorded highest in C. colebrookianum (367.0± 0.3 μg/ml), (250.0 ± 0.3 μg/ml) and (66.6 ± 0.3 mg/100g) respectively. Whereas percent DPPH activity was maximum in P. bennettiana (91.4 ±0.6%). The rich nutritional and antioxidant properties of these wild plants and its ethnomedicinal uses by indigenous communities were found to be correlated. Address for correspondence: Letngam Touthang Scientist (Genetics and Plant Breeding), ICAR (RC) for NEH Region, AP Centre, West Siang District, Basar 791 101, Arunachal Pradesh, India Telephone: ±918413836281, ±918794564858 E-mail: letngam111@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Arunachal Pradesh, the 25th world mega biodiversity hotspot and biogeographically one of the largest province of North-Eastern hilly regions of the Himalayan zone is a natural repository of prized medicinal plants and valuable wild plant species. The state is home of 26 major tribes and 110 sub-tribes which practices mostly Jhum cultivation with mixed cropping (Singh et al. 2010a). With the remoteness, inaccessibility, and dominance of Jhum farming in difficult terrains with a meager income, it has necessitated the local tribes in the region to depend on some edible wild plants and explored the ethnomedicinal uses to enlarge their meager food basket for sustaining life since time immemorial. These wild plants are closely associated with their socio-cultural, spiritual, dietary supplements and medicinal arena for the people of Eastern Himalaya (Arya et al. 2017). For centuries, these wild plants have been used for food, fiber, fodder and medicinal purposes which may play a vital role in the improvement of food security and reduce the risk of over-reliance on major food crops (Mayes et al. 2011).The ethnomedicinal use of these wild plant species among different tribes have been reported by several authors (Sarmah et al. 2008; Namsa et al. 2011; Yumnam et al. 2011; Gibji et al. 2012; Tangjang et al. 2014; Perme et al. 2015; Bharali et al. 2016; Sharma et al. 2016; Arya et al. 2017). Such traditional knowledge on the ethnobiological value of wild plants leads to the promotion of biodiversity conservation in the Eastern Himalayas (O’ Neil et al. 2017). The epidemiological studies have consistently demonstrated the positive correlation between the intake of natural food products and reduced risks of several degenerative diseases which have been attributed to the presence of several antioxidants. The antioxidant activities including2, 2 diphenyl-1picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2, 2azinobis (3ethylbenxothiazoline-6sulfonic acid) (ABTS), total phenolic substances, phytochemical constituents, carbohydrate, protein were determined in different part of these wild plants with different extraction solvents (Vidyalakshmi et al. 2006; Majaw and Moirangthem 2009; Payum et al. 2013; Lalitharani et al. 2013; Prabhash et al. 2014; Ali et al. 2015; Azad et al. 2015; Payum et al. 2015). Concentration of the compound depends on the type of extractant Ethno Med, 13(3): 146-152 (2019) DOI: 10.31901/24566772.2019/13.03.533 © Kamla-Raj 2019 PRINT: ISSN 0973-5070 ONLINE: ISSN 2456-6772 BIOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF SOCIO-CULTURALLY IMPORTANT WILD PLANT 147 Ethno Med, 13(3): 146-152 (2019) along with plant part used (Thangi et al. 2016) and the ethnomedicinal uses of particular four plants under study are given in Table 1 (Singh et al. 2010a; Shankar et al. 2012 ; Payum et al. 2013; Payum et al. 2014). However, the information regarding the validation of the medicinal properties of these wild plants is fragmented and meager. Amongst this vast array of wide plant species deserving attention which has been used by indigenous tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, the following four plants Clerodendrum colebrookianum (Family: Verbenaceae), Pouzolzia bennettianum (Family: Urticaceae), Zanthoxylum rhetsa (Family: Rutaceae) and Mussaenda glabra (Family: Rubiaceae) have been selected under the present investigation based on their frequency of consumption, year-round availability, and ethnomedicinal value of Galo tribe of West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh (Fig. 1). Hence, the study was conducted to evaluate and correlate between nutritional and antioxidant properties of four wild plants with their ethnomedicinal uses in Eastern Himalaya of Arunachal Pradesh.