Abstract:
Hundreds of wild edible species, which are capable of contributing to improve healthy dietary
patterns are available in Sri Lanka. Although Acrostichum aureum (Kerenkoku) is an important
wild edible species, its nutritional properties are still unexplored. This study was carried out to
determine the nutrient composition, antioxidant activity and to screen the phytochemicals in
different crude extracts of A. aureum. Different organic solvents including hexane, ethanol and
chloroform were used to prepare crude extracts. Different crude extracts were tested to determine
the antioxidant activity using DPPH assay. The proximate nutritional composition including, ash,
moisture, crude protein, crude fat and crude fiber were determined using AOAC standards. In
DPPH assay, IC 50 values of crude extracts varied between 1.53 mgmL-1 to 4.3 mgmL-1.
According to the results, the highest antioxidant activity was found in chloroform extract followed
by ethanol and hexane extracts. Qualitative In vitro phytochemicals screening for all crude extracts
had shown the presence of alkaloid, phenol, flavonoid and quinine compounds. Moreover, ethanol
extract contained tannin and saponin compounds. On the other hand, all the crude extracts did not
show positive results for coumarin and steroids. Moisture and ash contents were 86.90% and 0.03%
of fresh weight, respectively. The corresponding values for crude fat, crude fiber and crude protein
were 2.80%, 7.53% and 3.53% respectively in dry weight basis. Nutritional compositions of A.
aureum showed similar values to most leafy vegetables in Sri Lanka, while the identified crude fiber
level was higher than the other common leafy vegetables. In conclusion, most of the screened
phytochemicals in A. aureum are potent antioxidants and have corresponded to free radical
scavenging activity. A. aureum has a good potential to be used as a food source due to its significant
nutritional values. Accordingly, these underutilized plants can play an important role in improving
human dietary patterns as well as to fight against food insecurity in future.
Keywords: Acrostichum aureum; Antioxidant activity; Proximate composition; Phytochemicals
