PA02.19. Prospects of commercial utilization of water extracted Curcuma longa

PURPOSE: Background of the study: Water extraction is a major activity in the processing of formulations such as Kashayam, Arishtam, Medicated Oil and Lehyam. The herbal residues produced after the water extraction are mostly discarded. This study is on one such residue of a potent herb namely Curcuma longa. Curcuma longa generally known as turmeric is an important and potential drug widely used in different formulations of Ayurveda. The officinal part used is rhizome. It has been Phytochemicaly explored by different researchers. The prominent active principle in it is considered to be the phenolic compound Curcuminoids. Curcumin is the major compound in Curcuminoids. It is responsible for the yellow colour of turmeric and is practically insoluble in water. An assessment of phytochemicals in Curcuma longa rhizomes, before and after water extraction, and the fate of water insoluble compounds and Curcumin is explored in this paper. Aim: To explore bioactive principles retained with the remnants of curcuma longa rhizomes, after taking water decoctions and the scope of commercial utilization of the remnants or the active principles. METHOD: The samples were collected from The Arya Vaidya Pharmacy (Coimbatore) Limited. The preliminary phytochemical studies were done using the methods by Harborne and the antioxidant properties were estimated by DPPH radical scavenging activity. RESULT: Preliminary phytochemical studies on Curcuma longa rhizome samples before and after extraction show the presence of bioactive principles like phenols, alkaloids, flavonoids and terpenoids in both samples. The physicochemical parameters such as Alcohol extractive values, Total Ash, and Acid insoluble Ash were also compared. Thin layer chromatography was carried out for phytochemical comparison of methanolic extract of Curcuma longa before and after extraction and the profile shows comparable spots at same Rf values. The isolated Curcumin was compared with the standard Curcumin by UV–Visible Spectroscopy and the ?max was obtained at 421nm. The yield of Curcumin obtained was 3.91%. The antioxidant study gave IC50 values for the fresh sample, extracted herb and Curcumin are obtained at concentrations 49μg/ml, 85μg/ml and 12.1μg/ml respectively. CONCLUSION: The present study shows that considerable amount of secondary plant metabolites are retained in the herbal residue. The presence of phenols and other secondary metabolites in the herb even after extraction suggest that they can be used either as such for the isolation of Curcumin, a natural colouring compound. Both turmeric and Curcumin has wide application in Pharmaceutical, Food and Textile industries. Usually a large amount of such extracted curcuma longa is available from Ayurvedic Industry. Scope of the present study thus can be extended further to the possible utilization of the extracted Curcuma longa.