Physicochemical and phytochemical standardization of fruit of Sesbania grandiflora

The World Health Organization encourages the use of medicinal plants especially in countries where conventional treatment of major diseases seems to be insufficient. India has good biodiversity and Indian medicinal plants are used in successful management of various diseases. Sesbania grandiflora (SG), family – Leguminosae, is a well known Indian medicinal plant used in traditional system for various diseases. SG comprises of various phytochemical constituents. The extracts of this plant have been pharmacologically evaluated for hypolipidemic activity, wound healing activity, anti-ulcer activity, antioxidant activity, hepatoprotective activity etc. The therapeutic activity is due to the phytochemicals present in the plant. So, it is highly essential to standardize the medicinal plant on the basis of physicochemical and phytochemical aspects to identify the genuine plant part. The results demonstrated that the physico-chemical parameters such as ash value, extractive value, foreign matter, loss on drying, foaming index and crude fiber content determination are the suitable parameters in the standardization of the fruit of SG. The fluorescence analysis of the powder drug further authenticated its validation. The preliminary phytochemical screening of MSG and its fractions revealed that the plant part contained alkaloids, glycosides, saponin, tannins, flavonoids, carbohydrates, proteins and sterols. Thus, it can be assumed that these are the standard parameters in the standardization of fruit of SG. The benefit of the study would be to the group of researchers who will be working in the identification and use of the fruit of SG.