IOSR Journal of Pharmacy and Biological Sciences (IOSR-JPBS) e-ISSN: 2278-3008, p-ISSN:2319-7676. Volume 10, Issue 6 Ver. II (Nov - Dec. 2015), PP 59-63 www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/3008-10625963 www.iosrjournals.org 59 | Page Comparative Analysis of Phytochemical compounds in Normal and root gall of Okra plant Apexa Pareek 1 , Payal Lodha 2 1 (Department of Botany, University of Rajasthan, India) 2 (Department of Botany, University of Rajasthan, India) Abstract: Okra, Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Monech belongs to family Malvaceae and is widely cultivated in Tropical and Subtropical countries. In India, okra has been ranked first in its consumption. A multitude of threats on stable and secure yields of this crop exists including losses caused by pathogens like bacteria, virus, fungi and nematode. The root knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) infects root part of okra plant which leads to gall formation on root. The plant – pathogen interaction leads to production of increased secondary metabolites owing to the stress conditions. The secondary metabolites are supposed to provide resistance against pathogen. GC-MS analysis of the normal and galled root of Abelmoschus esculentus (L.)Monech leads to the finding that under stressed conditions larger no. of secondary metabolites were produced. Further studies on the efficacy of these secondary metabolites can result into various findings and discovery of novel and useful secondary metabolites resulting in increased resistance against pathogen to host plant. Keywords:Abelmoschus esculentus, GC-MS, Galled root, Host-pathogen interaction, Meloidogyne incognita. I. Introduction Okra, Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Monech is annual member of the Malvaceae family. It is native plant to tropical Africa, Asia and northern Australia. Okra has high fiber vitamin C and mucilage content [1]. Okra is also known for being high in antioxidants [2, 3]. The fruit of okra is extensively used as vegetables in tropical and subtropical countries. Mucilage content is also found in root of plants which have a strongly demulcent action [4]. The infusion of root is used for treatment of syphilis. The juice of root is used externally to treat cut, wounds and boils. Mucilage found in okra, is responsible for washing away toxic substances and bad cholesterol which loads the liver. Mucilage is supposed to be replacement of plasma. Due to having many medicinal and nutrition quality okra is widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical countries [5, 6, 7]. This crop is also attacked by various pathogens like bacteria, virus and root knot nematode. These pathogens cause biotic stress to the plant. A stress can lead into various results. Stress can have a devastating impact on plant growth and yield [8] or can result into enhancement of production of secondary metabolites [9]. These secondary metabolites are capable of triggering changes into plants cell which helps to overcome the stress [10]. Present study reveals the comparative analysis of stress (Galled Root) and non-stressed (Normal Root) condition of Okra Plant. II. Material And Methods 2.1 Dry powder preparation Plants were collected from field area of greenhouse of Department of Botany. The roots were separated from plants and washed with tap water to remove soil particle followed by distilled water. Normal and infected roots were cut into small pieces and were shade dried separately. Dried roots were pulverized to powder using mechanical grinder. 2.2 Preparation of Extract About 5 gm powder of normal and infected root was weighed and was extracted with methanol (70- 80ºC) by hot continuous percolation method in soxhlet apparatus for 24 hours. The extract was taken and filtered through whatmann filter paper. Then extract was concentrated by rotary evaporator to obtain extract. 2.3 GC-MS analysis The GC-Ms analysis of methanolic extract of normal and galled root of Abelmoschus esculentus was carried out on Shimadzu QP-2010 plus with thermal desorption system TD 20. It includes auto sampler and a gas chromatograph which interfaced to a mass spectrophotometer. The column size of this system is 30m × 0.25mm i.d × 0.26μm with a film thickness of 0.26mm, composed of 5MS ( 5% diphenyl/ 95% dimethyl poly siloxane). Helium gas (99.999%) was used as carrier gas at constant flow rate of 1ml/min. The 2μl injection volume of sample was utilized with split ratio of 10:1. The injector temperature was programmed initially at 280 °C, the ion-source temperature was 200 °C, the oven temperature was programmed from 110 °C (for 4 min), with an increase of 10 °C/min to 200°C, then 5 °C/min to 280°C, ending with a 9 min isothermal at 280