Antioxidant potential and nutritional content of stem, bark and pod of Drumstick tree (Moringa oleifera Lam.) from semi-arid region of Haryana

Different parts of Moringa oleifera (stem, pod and bark) were extracted with hot methanol and different fractions were made using solvents of different polarity. These extracts were used to evaluate total phenolics content, total flavonoids content, total alkaloid content, mineral content and free radical scavenging activity by DPPH method. Total phenolics. content was highest in acetone fraction of pod (41.27 +/- 0.10 mg GAE/g) while total flavonoids content was highest in ethyl acetate fraction of stem (71.00 +/- 0.33 mg CE/g). The amount of total alkaloids varied from 12.50 +/- 0.50 mg BNE/g (acetone fraction of bark) to 181.83 +/- 0.76 mg BNE/g (methanol fraction of pod): Moringa oleifera possess the highest K content (14905.00 +/- 1.23 mg/100 g) in water fraction of pod, followed by N (1275.00 +/- 0.56 mg/100 g) in acetone fraction of stem, Zn (556.70 +/- 0.14 mg/100 g) in acetone fraction of stem, P (531.25 +/- 0.34 mg/100 g) 'in water fraction of pod, Fe (24.63 +/- 0.67 mg/100 g) in acetone fraction of bark, Cu (7.11 +/- 0.01 mg/l00 g) in ethyl acetate fraction of pod and Mn (3.84 +/- 0.02 mg/100 g) in acetone fraction of bark: Acetone fraction of Moringa pod exhibited highest antioxidant activity having IC50 value 263.18 mu g/ml.