2020, Vol. 8, Issue 4, Part C

author(s)
Sudipta Sarkar, Monoj Mondal, Pranabesh Ghosh, Moumita Saha and Sirshendu Chatterjee

abstract
Protein is an important primary metabolite of our living systems. There are several studies based upon analysing the different, individual protein sources from various plant species are still on searching mode. On parallel with this context, traditionally edible plants has been proven to be an enriched source of protein based nutrition and largely utilized by most of the ethnic communities for their survival. The primary objective of the current research investigation is to estimate the total protein content from 33 traditionally used edible plant leaves categorized in trees, shrubs and herbs and to draw a comparative conclusion that which plant leaf contains better protein concentration. The protein content was estimated by UV-Vis spectrophotometric technique using the conventional Lowry’s method. Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) was used as standard reagent against which unknown protein concentration of plants had been estimated. All the proteins were extracted by using phosphate buffer (pH 7.4). From the results, it has been found that under tree category, Psidium guajava shows the highest (98.51 mg BSA Equivalent/ g of Fresh Weight) and Dillenia indica shows the lowest (13.73 mg BSAE/ g of FW) amount of protein content. In case of shrubs, Justicia adhatoda showed the maximum (86.37 mg BSAE/ g of FW) and Ocimum canum shows the minimum (10.59 mg BSAE/ g of FW) amount of protein content. Among the herbs, red Amaranthus viridis contains highest (97.43 BSAE/ g of FW) and Marsilea quadrifolia contains the lowest (15.04 mg BSAE/ g of FW) content of protein. The study results showed that Psidium guajava contains highest amount of protein among all the 33 plants. The study findings conclude that the protein content obtained from the leaves of different plant categories varies in their quantity and further supports the fact that plant leaves can be used as a potential source of nutrient consumption in near future.