PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING, PROXIMATE COMPOSITION AND HEAVY METALS OF CAMELLIA SINENSIS LEAVES

Phytochemical screening, proximate compositions and some heavy metals were assessed on the leaves of Camellia sinensis Linn. Phytochemical screening indicated presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, tannins, terpenoids, reducing sugars, cardiac glycosides, steroids and saponins. Proximate compositions analysis showed that the percentage of moisture, ash, crude protein, crude fat and crude fibre contents were 9.46% ? 0.31, 7.30% ? 0.40, 13.65% ? 0.69, 2.72%?0.12 and 7.69% ? 0.26 respectively. Spectrophotometric analysis showed that the percentage of heavy metals like Pb, As, Cd and Hg content were found 0.56 ? 0.05