PHYTOCHEMICAL STUDIES OF TWO SELECTED UNANI MEDICINAL PLANTS OF KALABURAGI REGION, KARNATAKA, INDIA

The present work was designed to perform the comparative study between the seeds of two selected plants i.e., Butea monosperma & Nigella sativa. The study includes phytochemical screening of primary and secondary metabolites, physico-chemical analysis, pharmacological studies, elemental analysis, and flouroscent studies. The comparative priliminary studies of Butea monosperma and Nigella sativa seeds in different solvent extracts shows the presence of  primary metabolites such as carbohydrates, proteins, lipids  and secondary metabolites such as Alkaloids, phenolic compounds, Flavonoides, Steroids, Tannins & saponins etc. In the preliminary screening of Nigella sativa ethanolic extract was more effective and shows the presence of maximum number of secondary metabolites, whereas In the preliminary screening of Butea monosperma  methanolic extract was more effective and shows the presence of maximum number of  secondary metabolites. The pharmacognostic studies was also  carried out in order to check the adulteration and quality of crude drugs, which involves the evaluation of organoleptic characters such as colour, odour, taste and other macroscopical physical characters.  The comparative physicochemical analysis of total ash was carried out to determine the quantity of acid insoluble ash (Inorganic contents), water soluble contents, extractive values of Butea monosperma and Nigella sativa Seeds. The observations   shows that 9.21% of total ash and 5.96% of acid insoluble ash was found to be present in Butea monosperma seeds, and total ash value was 8.14% and acid insoluble ash was found to be 4.20% in the Nigella sativa seeds. This variation in the contents of ash is probably due to the nature of metabolites as well as elements they Possess. Further, the quantitative determination of mineral elements was carried out by using the device i.e., Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer present in the Department of USIC Gulbarga University, Kalaburagi. The quantitative estimation of seven elements was carried out viz Iron, Zinc, Manganese, Chromium, Copper Cadmium, and Lead. The results were compared with W.H.O recommended values. The highest quantity of Iron was found to be present in the seeds of Butea monosperma i.e., 2.58mg/L whereas in the seeds of Nigella sativa it was found to be present 2.97mg/L. Out of seven elemental analysis the Iron was present in large quantity, and Manganese was present in traces i.e., 0.78±0.05 in Butea monosperma and 0.86±0.006 in Nigella sativa