extract.

Plant phenolics, saponins and flavonoids have a powerful biological activity, which outlines the necessity of their determination. The present work was aimed to determine the total phenolic, flavonoid and saponin contents in ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of Sesbania cannabina leaves. The total phenolic content was determined by folin-ciocatechu reagent using gallic acid as standard and total flavonoid content by aluminium chloride assay using rutin as a standard .The total saponin content was determined by vanillin reagent using diosgenin as a standard. Methanol extract of leaves showed highest amount of total phenolic content (231±0.86 mg/g equivalent of Gallic acid), total flavonoid content (87.10±0.38 mg/g equivalent of rutin) and total saponin content (50.66±0.57 mg/g equivalent of diosgenin). The results obtained from the present study provides evidence that extracts of Sesbania cannabina leaves contains secondary metabolites and this justifies the use of plant species as traditional medicine for treatment of various diseases.  

In indigenous/traditional systems of medicine, the drugs are primarily dispensed as water decoction or ethanolic extract. Fresh plant parts, juice or crude powder are a rarity rather than a rule.  Total Phenolic content in the extracts measured as gallic equivalent in Ashwagandha (methanolic)  43.77 ± 1.7, aqueous = 42.52 ± 0.8, activity of Trolox by ABTS method IC50 value 428.38 ± 1.90 µg /ml, Total Antioxidant activity by ABTS method in Ashwagandha (methanolic) IC50 Value is 28.353 ± 0.269 mg/ml in  aqueous 32.547 ± 0.532 mg/ml , Free radical scavenging capacity by DPPH in Ashwagandha (methanolic) IC50 Value 2.9  ± 0.09 mg/ml  in aqueous 3.27 ± 0.05 mg/ml. The medicinal plant examined in this study has long been used in Indian traditional medicine, Ayurveda as well as many other traditional drug practices of the rest of the world. Withania somnifera, known as ‘Ashwagandha’, has been an important herb in the Ayurvedic and indigenous medical systems for centuries in India.