Comparative preliminary phytochemical analysis of ethanolic extracts of leaves of Olea dioica Roxb., infected with the rust fungus Zaghouania oleae (E.J. Butler) Cummins and non-infected plants

Infection of certain plants with fungus which triggers the production of a vast array of secondary metabolites has been viewed as an outstanding source of bioactive natural products. Olea dioica Roxb., belonging to the family ‘Oleaceae’ is a tree species seen to be infected with the rust fungus Zaghouania oleae (E.J. Butler) Cummins. The infection of Z. oleae is restricted to leaves and tender shoots, and it causes blisters on leaves, hypertrophy, littling, thickening and unusual elongation of the infected shoot. The hypertrophied tender twigs are being cooked and eaten by Chenchu tribal ladies in Andhra Pradesh to get rid of infertility problems in women. In the present investigation, a comparative study of preliminary phytochemical screening of leaves of O. dioica Roxb infected with Z. oleae (E.J. Butler) Cummins and non-infected plants has been carried out. The results confirmed the abundance of flavonoids and phenolics in O. dioica Roxb infected with fungus in comparison with the non-infected leaves.