AN EVALUATION OF THE ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTIES OF SOME OIL YIELDING LAMIACEOUS PLANTS FROM MORNI HILLS (HARYANA, INDIA)

The present study was conducted to explore the antioxidant and radical scavenging activities of essential oil extracted from the leaves of plants of family Lamiaceae from Morni hills in the north-eastern part of the state of Haryana, India. Ten plants- Hyptis suaveolens, Mentha longifolia, M. pulegium, Ocimum basilicum, Plectranthus incanus, P. striatus, Pogostemon benghalensis, Rabdosia rugosa, Salvia plebeia and Scutellaria angulosa– of the family Lamiaceae were explored from the area and the essential oil from their leaves was extracted. The maximum oil yield was found in leaves of O. basilicum, while the oil yield was the minimum in leaves of P. incanus. The density of oil was found to be the maximum in H. suaveolens, while it was the minimum in P. incanus and S. angulosa. The essential oils of all the plants exhibited DPPH radical scavenging activity; however, it was best exhibited by S. angulosa (with least IC₅₀ value) in comparison to standard butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). Further, the oil also exhibited total antioxidant activity, which was found to be the greatest in H. suaveolens, O. basilicum and P. benghalensis (with lesser IC₅₀ values compared to standard ascorbic acid). The study concludes that Morni hills ecosystem has a rich diversity of Lamiaceous plants that possess a good antioxidant /radical scavenging activity that is worth exploiting in future.