Phytochemical evaluation of Costus speciosus (Koen) J.E. Sm. germplasm from Eastern India-An important antidiabetic plant Raina Archana Peshin1,*, Misra Ramesh Chandra2 1Division of Germplasm Evaluation, ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi-110012, India 2ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Regional Station, Cuttack-753006, Odisha, India *Corresponding author e-mail: aprraina@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 26 December, 2023. Abstract Costus speciosus (Koen) J.E. Sm. popularly known as insulin plant or crepe ginger is an important medicinal plant of commercial value. This plant is native to Southeast Asia and is widely distributed throughout parts of India. It has recently gained tremendous importance as a valuable natural source for industrially important chemical compound of diosgenin used for drug industries. Plant is used in traditional system of medicine due to presence of medicinally important phytochemicals having intensive pharmacological effects due to diverse biological properties of antioxidant, antimicrobial, insecticidal, anticancerous, and antidiabetic. C. speciosus germplasm collected from different parts of Eastern India through explorations was established in the field genebank of ICAR-NBPGR, Regional Station Cuttack, Odisha. Results of phytochemical analyses of C. speciosus rhizomes showed presence of total phenols (4.85-7.68 mg GAE/g), total flavonoids (7.33-11.89 mg QE/g), total sugars (1.53-3.31%), tannins (1.59-4.84%), fixed oil (1.42-1.76%), ash content (7.71-13.33%), extractive yield (9.92-13.37%) and DPPH activity (85.97-87.21%). High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography analyses showed presence of bioactive compound diosgenin in rhizomes (0.040-0.083%) and in seeds (0.045 to 0.053%). Superior collections for diosgenin were IC641715 and IC641723 from Ganjam district of Odisha that can be used for developing quality planting material for large scale cultivation in order to assure a sustained supply of quality raw material to the herbal drug industry. Top Keywords Costus speciosus, Diosgenin, HPTLC, Insulin plant, Diversity. Top |