Proximate And Spectroscopic Analysis Of Passiflora Foetida L.

ABSTRACT A medicinal plant Passiflora foetida belonging to the family of Passifloraceae. The plant was chemically screened for nutritional values such as moisture content ash crude fat crude protein crude fibre and carbohydrate. It was assessed with a view of establishing and understanding their nutritional uses. The plant contained crude protein 25.83 to 26.05 crude fibre9.55 to 90.61 crude fat 2.87 to 2.98 Ash 28.55 to 28.84 carbohydrate 40.46 to 40.69 and moisture 1.79 to 1.96. The significance of the plant in traditional medicine and importance of the nutritional value in the pharmaceutical industries were discussed. The infrared spectroscopy analysis was also carried out to know the molecular structure of the sample. It is showed that the molecular structure of the oil in the plant signifies five important peaks which include stretching bending and double bond absorption. A peak of 1640.93cm-1 in the oil indicates the formation of an acid functional groupCO-N.This makes the oil to be unsaturared. It is therefore recommended that more research is needed to be done in the area of characterization of the plant constituents for further use as a medicinal plant.