ABSTRACT
Vegetables are the edible parts of plant that are consumed wholly or in parts, raw or cooked as part of main dish or salad. A vegetable includes leaves, stems, roots, flowers, seed, fruits, bulbs, tubers and fungi (Uzo, 1999). Vegetables are good sources of oil, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins depending on the vegetable consumed (Ihekoronye & Ngoddy, 2000). (Ononugbu, 2002) reported that vegetable fats and oil lower blood lipids thereby reducing the occurrence of disease associated with damage of coronary artery. Leafy vegetables are important items of diet in many Nigerian homes. Apart from the variety which they add to the menu ( Mepha & Eboh, 2007; Subukola et al., 2007), they are valuable sources of nutrients especially in rural areas where they contributes substantially to protein, minerals, vitamins, fibers and other nutrients which are usually in short supply in daily diets (Mohammed & Sharif, 2011). It is worthwhile to note that consumption of numerous types of edible plants as sources of food could be beneficial to nutritionally marginal population especially in developing countries where poverty and climate is causing havoc to the rural populace. In many developing countries the supply of minerals is inadequate to meet the mineral requirements of farm animals and rapidly growing population. Minerals cannot be synthesized by animals and must be provided from plants or mineral-rich water (Anjorin et al., 2010). Telferia occidentialis (Fluted pumpkin) belong to the family of plants called cucurbitaceae. In Nigeria it is known as pumpkins and it is grown in South-Eastern, Nigeria. The crop which is originated from West-Africa is a perennial climber, it leaves and seeds are very nutritive. In the recent times fluted pumpkin has gained medicinal recognition, it has been discovered to be blood purifiers (Aletor et al., 2000) and could therefore be useful in maintenance of good health most especially in developing countries.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0INTRODUCTION
1.1AIM AND OBJECTIVE
1.2JUSTIFICATION
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1MEDICINAL PLANTS
2.2UTAZI(Gongronema latifolium)
2.2.1CULTIVATION
2.2.2 MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
2.2.3 TAXONOMY
2.2.4 MEDICINAL USES OF Gongronema latifolium
2.3 SCENT LEAF (Ocimum gratissimum)
2.4 PHYTOCHEMICALS
2.4.1 TYPES OF PHYTOCHEMICALS
2.4.2 TANNINS
2.4.3 SAPONINS
2.4.4 TERPENES
2.4.5 GLYCOSIDES
2.4.6 HEALTH BENEFITS OF GLYCOSIDES
2.5 ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY
CHAPTER THREE
3.1. EXPERIMENT MATERIALS AND METHODS
3.1.1 PLANT MATERIALS
3.2 METHODOLOGY
3.3 PHYTOCHEMICAL SPOT TEST:
3.4 ANTIOXIDANT STUDY
CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 RESULTS
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
5.1 DISCUSSION
5.1.1 CONCLUSION
5.1.2 RECOMMENDATION
REFERENCES
