Abstract:
At the commercial level, it is difficult to find quality medicinal plant material though it is
important in Ayurvedic preparations. R. cordifolia is a common and important medicinal
plant belongs to the Rubaceia family. It imports from India through favourable growing
conditions that exist in Sri Lanka. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the
important phytochemical properties of imported and locally available materials of Rubia
cordifolia. The imported market sample was collected from the Uva Provincial
Department of Ayurveda, Diyathalawa, and the fresh locally available sample was
collected from Maspanna (IM1a) forest area in Welimada. Those samples were washed
and dried under the shade, oven-dried at 40°C and sonication proceeded for
phytochemical extraction using 70% methanol. Before the extraction, samples were
observed for macroscopic and microscopic features of the root and stem. Phytochemical
properties such as total polyphenols, antioxidant activity, flavonoid, and anthocyanin
were quantitatively analysed by using standard protocols available in the literature with
slight modifications. There was no significant difference between morphological
characteristics of locally available Rubia cordifolia and Indian species according to the
literature except the colour of the stem and roots. However physicochemical properties of
the locally available sample are in better comparison to the imported market available
sample. The 7.412± 0.45 mg gallic acid/1 g dry weight of polyphenol was received from
the local sample and it was significantly higher amount compare to the imported sample
(4.182 ± 0.399 mg gallic acid/1 g dry weight, p<0.05). A significantly high antioxidant
activity was observed in the locally available sample 239.08 µg/ml compare to the
imported sample 228.48µg/ml. Flavonoid content and monomeric anthocyanin in local
available R.cordifolia is significantly lower than the imported sample
of R.cordifolia. This implies the potential of using locally available materials for drug
manufacturing and different Ayurveda preparations.
Keywords: Antioxidants, Polyphenols, Flavonoids
