Effect of chlorophyll content and maturity on total phenolic, total flavonoid contents and antioxidant activity of Moringa oleifera leaf (Miracle tree)

Moringa oleifera is a multipurpose plant, over longperiod of time, many countries in the world uses different part of Moringa plant. Example folk medicine uses Moringa immensely to cure certain diseases such as snake bites, ascites and many more disorder, however recently many researchers have reported the antioxidant property of the plant. This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of chlorophyll content, leaf maturity on antioxidant activity, total phenolic and total flavonoid content from Moringa oleifera. 1, 1-diphenyl 2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay was used to evaluate antioxidant activity. The result observed was found to be increasing in the following order, Tender leaf <High chlorophyll (HClL)/matured leaf< Low chlorophyll leaf(LClL), the result of total phenolic content found to be decreasing in the following order Tender leaf >High chlorophyll (HClL)/matured leaf(LClL)> Low chlorophyll leaf, having 35.51±1.07, 32.83±1.19 and 30.83±2.21mg/g GAE respectively. Where’re total flavonoid content were also decreases in this order, high chlorophyll leaf (HClL)/matured leaf> Tender leaf> low chlorophyll leaf (LClL), with 98.67±2.10,50.69±1.28 and 32.74±1.036 respectively. The result of this experiment revealed that all the extract used are good source of natural antioxidant compounds. Hence Moringa oleifera can be used to cure oxidative related illness