PHYSIOCHEMICAL AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF COTTON SEED AND LEAF

PHYSIOCHEMICAL AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF COTTON SEED AND LEAF

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to evaluate the antioxidant activity of chloroform extract of cotton seed and methanol extract of cotton leaf. The seed and leaf from Gossypium hirsutum L. was collected, air dried, powdered and subjected to chloroform and methanol extraction respectively and these extracts were screened phytochemically for their chemical constituents. Using standard phytochemical analysis procedures, results revealed the presence of tannins, saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids, carbohydrates, steroids and so on. The antioxidant activity of chloroform and methanol extracts of Gossypium hirsutum L. was determined by DPPH (2, 2 diphenyl-2- 2 picryhydrazyl) free radical scavenging assay. The chloroform seed extract and methanol leaf extract of Gossypium hirsutum L. had shown very significant DPPH free radical scavenging activity of the extracts was increased with increasing concentration. The result concluded that the seed and leaf of Gossypium hirsutum L. extracts have a potential source of antioxidants of natural origin and which can also be used in several applications requiring this property

CHAPTER ONE

 1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 MEDICINAL PROPERTIES

Medicinal plants are the sources of many scientific drugs of the modern world.  Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) seed oil and leaf is among the most common vegetable oils used in the US. Referred to as “America’s original vegetable oil,” it has been a part of the American diet since the 1800s and has been in high demand among consumers since then. The health benefits of consuming cottonseed oil and leaf include; it helps to reduce the chances of cardiovascular and heart issues like stroke, clogged arterial condition, and heart attacks, it promotes neurological health & memory, it helps in regulating body weight, it is beneficial for breastfeeding mothers in the sense that it help in producing breast milk when it consume as tea, it helps in reducing the chances of blood pressure in humans and regulates the same as well, it helps to prevent the chances of cancers etc.

1.2 PLANT OF STUDY

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) belongs to the Malvaceaefamily with origins in tropical and subtropical areas. Thegenus Gossypium includes nearly 50 species. It is one of themost significant fiber producing plants providing fiber forthe textile industry. Cotton plants are an annually growing herb belonging to the genus Gossypium of the Malvaceae family (mallow family). Cotton is an essential fiber plant native to tropical and subtropical Americas, the Caribbean, and questionably some Pacific islands. It is cultivated for its fiber used by the textile industry to produce a great variety of apparel and fabrics. Cotton seeds containing 20 to 28 % oil are used to produce oil and are a valuable source of protein. It is quite unusual in that it is concurrently both a food and fiber crop. Apart from cotton it is also known as upland Cotton, Mexican Cotton, American cotton, American upland cotton and Bourbon cotton.

1.2.1 Plant

Cotton is an annual or perennial herb or shrub which grows from 40 to 45 cm to 1.5 to 2 m tall. The plant requires a long frost-free period, plenty of sunshine, and a moderate rainfall and tolerant of a wide variety of soils, but thrives best on deep, friable, moisture-holding soils with good humus supply. It has a well-developed taproot with numerous laterals penetrating as deeply as 3 m. Branches are of two kinds: vegetative and fruiting. Leaves are broad and heart shaped three-segmented greenish leaves, which are about 2 inches to 6 inches in length and emerge alternately on the stem. Flowers are cup-shaped with big and flashy petals whose hue ranges from white to yellow. The flowers have a purplish or reddish spot close to their base.

1.2.2 Fruit

Fruit of cotton is actually a leathery capsule called boll. Capsules are up to 4-6 cm long, spherical, smooth broadly ovoid to sub globose; beaked at tip; 3-5-celled, each cell contains up to 11 copiously hairy and fuzzy seeds. They are normally green while young turning to brown as they mature. Seeds are usually ovoid, 3.5–10 mm long, acute at the hilum, black or brown with a dense covering of white or rusty, long, woolly hairs (lint or floss) and with a fine, short tomentum (fuzz) everywhere or only at the hilum, about 36 per fruit. The weights of 100 seeds are about 10–13 g. By weight, they are 60% cotyledon, 32% coat and 8% embryonic root and shoot. Cultured cotton varieties’ fiber is mostly white. However, some varieties have colored fiber, which may be brown, green or creamy-colored. Technological properties of cotton fiber depend on the following values: fiber length, thinness, strength, breaking length, elasticity, crimpiness, and maturity.

Cottonseed, which must be removed from the fibers during “ginning,” is processed into oil by crushing, and is also used as a supplement for dairy feed, especially in California. Cottonseed oil is used in the industry of food (as an ingredient of margarines) and in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry. It is also used for the production rubber and plastics.

 Cotton seed is rich in oil (18–24%) andprotein (20–40%) and is utilized in the feed and oil industries.Agricultural economists have identified cotton as aneconomical plant creating jobs for 350 million people fromthe farm to processed products (Wendel et al. 2009). Underunsuitable storage conditions, cotton seeds containing highconcentrations of oil are more susceptible to deterioration(Iqbaletal. 2007). Starch immobilization involves the transportation of sugars to theembryo of the seed where it is used.

The development and regulation of amylase activity duringgermination are best observed in the seed of the plant. In the dry seed, there is low level of beta amylase activity inthe starchy endosperm and decreased alpha amylase activity(Ernst 2006). It is well known that anatomic studies ofthe seed can be used to determine seed health, as well asthe state of structural changes in the plant seed under stress(Mashinsky and Nechitailo2007). Previous work has primarilyfocused on changes in metabolites in plants undergoing stress. Current research has attempted to distinguish theposition of these metabolites in cell and tissues (Gershenzon2006; Ashraf and Foolad2006; Mahajan and Tuteja2006).

1.2.3 Leaves

Tree cotton branches are covered with pubescence and are purple in color. Stipules are present at the leaf base and they are linear to lanceolate in shape and sometimes falcate (i.e. sickle-shaped). Leaves are attached to the stem by a 1.5 to 10 cm petiole. Blades are ovate to orbicular in shape and have five to seven lobes, making them superficially resemble a maple leaf. Lobes are linear to lanceolate, and often a tooth is present in the sinus. Glands are present along the midrib or occasionally on the adjacent nerves. Leaves are glabrescent, meaning the pubescence is lost with age, but when it is present on young leaves, it is both stellate (i.e. star-shaped) and simple.

1.3AIM OF THE STUDY

The aim of the study is to determine the phytochemicals and antioxidant activity of seed and leaf of cotton(Gossypium hirsutum L.)

1.4OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To get extract from cotton seed and leaf

To determine the antioxidants activity of plant using DPPH reagent

To also carry out phytochemical screening on the samples for the presence of secondary metabolite

1.5STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

Exogenous antioxidants can be derived from natural sources (vitamins, flavonoids, anthocyanins, some mineral compounds), but can also be synthetic compounds, like butylhydroxyanisole, butylhydroxytoluene, gallates, etc.Tache A, et al (2011). There is an increasing interest in antioxidants, particularly in those intended to prevent the presumed deleterious effects of free radicals in human body, as well as the deterioration of fats and other constituents of food stuff. (Molynex P. 2006). Studies on (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cotton seed and leaf will prove its antioxidant effect and also it’s important to the society and organic chemistry field.

1.6 JUSTIFICATION OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

Cotton seed and leaf have become important in food and pharmaceutical industries with many as a result of many applications being considered effective in treating many human afflictions. Incorporation of these cotton seed and leaf in food and pharmaceutical industries can replace other antioxidants because they contain a lot of phytochemicals. There is need to produce natural antioxidant with lesser side effect, hence, the need for antioxidant from cottonseeds and leaf.