Phytochemical screening and proximate composition of the sea grasses Enhalus acoroides and Thalassia hemprichii in the Coastal Waters of Carmen, Agusan Del Norte, Philippines
Résumé
Knowledge of the chemical composition of seagrass is important both for the assessment of the nutritional value of marine invertebrate or vertebrate herbivores and for the evaluation of potential sources of protein, carbohydrates, and lipids for commercial use or for possible human consumption. While phytochemical screening provides basic information about the medicinal importance of the plant extract and are lead compound for drug discoveries. Proximate composition and phytochemical analyses were determined on the seagrass Enhalus acoroides and Thalassia hemprichii using standard methods on a dry basis. The result of the proximate composition showed that Enhalus acoroides contained 9.35% crude protein, 0.07% crude lipid, 54.94% carbohydrate contents and 35.64% ash. While Thalassia hemprichii contained 14.98% crude protein, 0.17% crude lipid, 52.87% carbohydrate contents and 31.98% ash. The phytochemicals detected in the methanolic extracts of Enhalus acoroides were alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, phenols, tannins, and steroids. While for Thalassia hemprichii were alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, phenols, tannins, triterpenoids and steroids. The results indicate that seagrass Enhalus acoroides and Thalassia hemprichii are good potential sources of highly nutritious feed stuff and the different active secondary metabolites along with significant bioactive potential might be helpful for the future pharmaceutical applications.