COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PHYTOCHEMICAL AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY IN THE MOTHER TREE AND IN VITRO REGENERATED FEGRA FIG ( FICUS PALMATA FORSSK.)

The fegra fig ( Ficus palmata Forssk.), is a significant medicinal plant that produces fruit and is utilized in tropical climates worldwide. In traditional medicine, it is used to cure a variety of conditions including ulcers, gonorrhea, diabetes, asthma, diarrhea, liver, and kidney problems. The natural stand of this plant is being exhausted due to the growing demand for it. It is also a rare kind of tree in the Arabian region with slow growth. For these reasons, we have previously developed an in vitro regeneration technique for the large-scale proliferation of this plant. The mother plant and the in vitro-regenerated plant were subjected to phytochemical and antioxidant analyses in the current investigation. When compared to extracts of maternal plants, phytochemical analysis showed that the extract of in vitro regenerated plants had higher levels of phenolic (70.78 mg GAE/g), flavonoid (45.04 mg QE/g), and tannin (28.00 mg TAE/g) contents. These findings may be related to the higher antioxidant potential of the extract. The analysis using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) revealed the existence of several bioactive compounds. In conclusion, the herbal industry may be able to exploit the in vitro regenerated material since it contains significant amounts of bioactive compounds.