Academic literature on the topic 'Heracleum nepalence'

The effect of herbal extracts of four ethnomedicinal herbs (Zanthoxylumarmatum, Litsea cubeba, Heracleum nepalense, and Evodia fraxinifolia) of culinary importance on the microbial quality of sukuti (a traditional dried meat product) was studied. Herbal extracts were prepared by grinding each herb to particle size < 250 μm, extracting in 50% (v/v) ethanol, and concentrating in a rotary vacuum evaporator at 50oC. Four of the spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms, viz., Salmonella, Staphylococcus, E. coli, and Lactobacillus were isolated from market sukuti samples and used as test organisms for the study. Herbal extracts at the concentration of 40, 20, 10, and 2 mg/ml were tested against the test organisms to determine the antimicrobial property of the extracts. The herbal extract showing the greatest antimicrobial activity was selected for use in optimized product (sukuti) development. The total phenolic content of the herbal extracts was also determined. The analyses were performed in triplicate. The data were checked for homogeneity before being analyzed with ANOVA in Genstat Release v12. The Fisher's Least Significant Difference (LSD) method was used to compare data means at a 5% level of significance. Zanthoxylum armatum at 40 mg/ml concentration showed the largest zone of inhibition (ZOI) against the test organisms and was therefore selected for final product development. Meat strips (1 cm × 1 cm × 25 cm) were marinated with Zanthoxylum armatum (40 mg/ml) extract at the rate of 2%, aged (24 h at 4 ± 2oC), and dried in a cabinet dryer for 2 days at 55oC. The total plate counts (TPCs) of control (untreated)- and herbal (treated) sukuti were carried out for 20 days at an interval of 10 days to determine the microbial stability of the final product. The TPC for the treated sample was significantly lower (p<0.05) than that of the untreated sample.

The fruit of Capsicum annuum var. cerasiforme belonging to the Family Solanaceae is a widely used spice in Sikkim, a North Eastern state of India. The fruit of Capsicum annuum var. cerasiforme locally called ‘Dalle Khorsani’ is a valuable cash crop of Sikkim and also possess medicinal properties. Heracleum nepalense D. Don locally called ‘Chimphing’ belongsto the Family Umbillifereae and is extensively used in folk medicine. The present study evaluated the antimicrobial property of fruits of Capsicum annuum var. cerasiforme (Mill.) Irish and Heracleum nepalense D. Don using agar well diffusion method against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Bacillus subtilis. The antioxidant property of methanol extracts of fruits of these test plants was also investigated. The antioxidant property was evaluated by 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity assay and Ferric reducing power assay. The total phenolic content was determined by using Gallic acid as a standard. The methanol extract of both the plants inhibited the growth of mostly Gram positive bacteria and Escherichia coli among Gram negative bacteria. However the acetone extract of the selected plants did not exhibit antimicrobial activity. The methanol extracts of these plants exhibited significant (p>0.05) concentration dependent increase in DPPH free radical scavenging activity. The extract of Capsicum annuum var. cerasiforme (Mill.) Irish also exhibited significantly higher (p>0.05) ferric reducing ability thereby showing higher antioxidant activity. The phytochemical analyses of the plant extracts revealed the presence of phenol, tannin, flavonoid, alkaloid, steroid and saponin. The results of the present study indicate that Capsicum annuum var. cerasiforme (Mill.) Irish and Heracleum nepalense D. Don can be a potential source of antimicrobial and antioxidant agents and can be explored further for its therapeutic use.