A Comparative Phytochemical Profiling of Phenolics, Flavonoids and Alkaloids in Alfalfa Cultivars Grown in Iraq

Izdehar Yahia  Obaid; Bushra M. J.  Alwash

doi:10.30526/39.3.4313

Authors

Izdehar Yahia Obaid Department of Biology, College of Science for Women, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq. https://orcid.org/0009-0007-2894-3499
Bushra M. J. Alwash Department of Biology, College of Science for Women, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7271-7711

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30526/39.3.4313

Keywords:

Medicago sativa,, flavonoids, , high-performance liquid chromatography HPLC, , cultivars.

Abstract

Natural substances obtained from medicinal plants have long served as valuable sources of therapeutic agents because they contain important secondary metabolites. This study aimed to identify the qualitative and quantitative content of some active secondary metabolites (SMs) in the aerial parts of three alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) cultivars (local cultivar LC, Green Gold cultivar GC, and Victoria cultivar VC) grown in Iraq. This was achieved by detecting phenols, flavonoids, and alkaloids in the crude extract and determining their qualitative and quantitative levels using colorimetric methods and HPLC analysis. The results showed a clear difference among the three studied cultivars in both the quantity and quality of the studied SMs. The VC cultivar stood out with the highest content of phenolic compounds (295.8) and alkaloids (4.11), surpassing the other two cultivars. In comparison, GC cultivar recorded the highest flavonoid content (219.09), and its phenolic concentration (285.61) exceeded that of the LC. Meanwhile, LC surpassed GC in alkaloid content, registering a value of (3.70). These differences may be influenced by soil conditions, environmental factors, and genetic diversity among the cultivars in regulating the biosynthetic pathways of secondary metabolites

Author Biographies

Izdehar Yahia Obaid, Department of Biology, College of Science for Women, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq.

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Bushra M. J. Alwash , Department of Biology, College of Science for Women, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq.

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