Nutraceutical studies of Polygonum plebeium R. Br. (small knotweed) a promising vegetable for future

Abstract

Polygonum plebeium R. Br. is often found near waterlogged areas in many parts of the world. In some parts of India, it is widely consumed as local vegetable and also used medicinally. However, in other parts it is not included in diet due to many reasons. Thus an attempt is made to look for the nutritional and proximate analysis of the species collected from wild near the regions of district Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India. Plant material were collected from wild sources in the field and a study was conducted to analyse the nutritional potential of arial parts by evaluating carbohydrates, fat, proteins, energy, total ash, and water content by standard methods. However, UHPLC profiling as well as HPTLC was performed using an in-house protocol developed at Patanjali Research Institute, Haridwar, Uttarakhand. The aerial parts of the plant were found to contain all essential nutrients as carbohydrate (69.63%w/w), protein (1.30%w/w), total ash (11.68%w/w), moisture (13.10%w/w) and energy (140.26 Kcal /100g). The HPLC analysis confirms the presence of gallic acid (0.049 µg/mg) and piperine (0.234 µg/mg) in the aerial parts of the plant.The study was performed with the objective of nutritional composition analysis, qualitative analysis of secondary metabolite so that it can be recommended for its utilization for edible purposes. Graphical abstract of the study has been given in Figure.