Elements from stem bark of orchard tree - Juglans regia.

Juglans regia, the royal species from Junglandaceae family, well-known for its valuable medicinal uses is grown in the forests of Himalayas in India. It is a woody, deciduous and frost-tender tree. The root, stem bark, leaves, seeds, cotyledons and seed oil are useful to treat various health complaints including cancer in the folk medicines. Chemical analysis is carried out on the stem bark of the species to determine qualitatively and quantitatively the elements present in it. Different standard methods like Kjeldahl, Colorimetry, Flame photometry and Atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) are used for the experiments. Results show considerable percentage of Iron, Nitrogen, Copper and traces of Zinc, Manganese and Potassium Phosphorous. Key-words: Juglans regia, Iron, Nitrogen, Colorimetry, Flame photometry, AAS. INTRODUCTION Juglans regia, known as Akhort in India, a nativeof Eastern Europe to North Asia i.e. China, Iraq, Mexico, Spain, Turkey, Nepal, India (forests in Himalayas) is a member of Juglandaceae family. It is a woody, deciduous and frost-tender tree growing to 20m. height. The wood is heavy, durable and polishes well. The bark is resinous and scented. The tree is in flower in June and a seed ripe in October. This valuable tree has a long history of medicinal use to treat a wide range of health complaints. Almost all parts of the plant are medicinally important. The dried green husks contain 2.5-5% ascorbic acid(vitamin C) which can be extracted and used as a vitamin supplement. The root and stem bark are anthelmentic, astringent and detergent. The stem bark is dried and used as a tooth cleaner. The decoction of leaves and bark is used with alum for staining wool brown . The cotyledons are used in the treatment of cancer since a long time. Some extracts of the plant have shown anticancer activity . Juglone found in the leaves and its derivatives show a wide spectrum of applications in the field of cosmetics, pharmacology and ecology. Considering the vast medicinal applications of the royal species, an attempt is made to technically analyze the plant material. Present work is an analytical study to determine the elements present in the stem bark of Juglans regia . EXPERIMENTAL A Perkin-Elmer 3110 Atomic Absorption Spectro photometer was used for the quantitative determination of transition elements. Determination of alkali and alkaline earth metals was performed on the Flame photometer of Madiflame, model127. Photoelectric colorimeter of Systronics, model113 was utilized for phosphorus. Ash was prepared by taking 1gm. shade-dried and powdered sample of stem bark and keeping it in muffle furnace at 550 deg.C till constant weight was obtained. The major constituent of ash was determined qualitatively and quantitatively. For detection of metals the ash was converted to chloride and was tested for metals by applying standard procedures. Initially the ash was dissolved in 10% HCL (0.5ml.) and evaporated to dryness on water bath. The material was filtered through Whatmann filter paper no. 40. Asha Kale et al /Int.J. ChemTech Res.2010,2(1) 549 The residue was made chloride free (tested with AgNO3) by washing with hot water. The acid soluble and acid insoluble parts of ash determined gravimetrically (Table-1). The filtrate was diluted to 50ml. and used to estimate metal contents by standard methods as shown in Table-2. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Trace elements are spark plugs of life because they are required to activate hundreds of enzymes reactions within the human body. Herbs are classified according to mineral content as stimulatory and sedative. Stimulatory herbs contain higher percentage of potassium, phosphorus and iron; those rich in calcium and magnesium are sedative herbs.The stem bark powder of Juglans regia showed the presence of common elements like potassium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, manganese, and zinc along with copper. Quantities of calcium, potassium were found to be less, but iron, zinc, manganese and copper are major constituents. As the sample of Juglans regia is rich in iron, manganese, it is advised in traditional and folk medicines. Potassium plays important role in treatment of diabetes as it has effect on secretion of insulin. Absolute zinc deficiency symptoms are stress, illness, increased thyroid activity, hyper adrenal function, skin lesions, stretch marks, slower healing wounds, spot on nails, sickle cell anaemia and juvenile diabetes. Iron deficiency results in sweating, rapid pulse, prolonged sleep, cessation of the mensus, avertion to eating and heavy feeling of body. Skeletal abnormalities, retarded bone growth, change in hair colour to growth, abnormalities in pancrease, disturbances in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism can develop due to manganese deficiency. It is generally recommended that Fe contents should be at least 50ppm. in ruminant feeds, Zn and Cu deficiency may result in infertility, bone deformation, anaemia and a weakened immune system. Qualitative and quantitative estimation of different elements present in the stem bark sample of medicinally useful Juglans regia shows presence of biologically important transition metals in considerable percentage. Iron, copper, zinc, manganese are present in greater amounts which may be responsible for the traditional use of the plant material in medicines. TABLE-1: Ash content from stem bark of Juglans regia. Sr.No. Particulars Stem Sample %