~ 9 ~ Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2019; 8(6): 09-13 E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 JPP 2019; 8(6): 09-13 Received: 04-09-2019 Accepted: 06-10-2019 K Abirami ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute (CARI), Port Blair, Andaman Island, India Sachidananda Swain ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute (CARI), Port Blair, Andaman Island, India Piya Xaxa ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute (CARI), Port Blair, Andaman Island, India V Baskaran ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute (CARI), Port Blair, Andaman Island, India K Sakthivel ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute (CARI), Port Blair, Andaman Island, India Binku Mondal ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute (CARI), Port Blair, Andaman Island, India Corresponding Author K Abirami ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute (CARI), Port Blair, Andaman Island, India Phytochemical profile and antimicrobial activity of turmeric grown in Andaman Islands K Abirami, Sachidananda Swain, Piya Xaxa, V Baskaran, K Sakthivel and Binku Mondal Abstract Turmeric is one of the important spice that has many medicinal properties. The co-2 variety of turmeric grown in Andaman and Nicobar Islands were subjected to phytochemical assay. The results showed that the rhizomes of turmeric had highest phenolic (31.62 mg/g GAE) and flavonoid content (18.02 mg/g GAE) in methanolic extract than aqueous extract. The antioxidant assay was done by DPPH activity of two extracts and were increased with increasing concentration (10-75 μg/ml), the DPPH activity was showed highest in methanolic extract (26.02 mg BHA/g). The antimicrobial scavenging activity was found to be 49.79% and 17. 24% in methanolic and aqueous extract respectively. The methanol and aqueous extracts of the C. longa showed no antimicrobial activity against R. solanacearum, C. gloeosporioides and Fusarium spp., at all dilutions Keywords: turmeric, Andaman Islands, antioxidant, antimicrobial activity Introduction Turmeric (Curcuma longa L., family: Zingiberaceae) is one of the most important and ancient spices of India and a traditional item of export. It is used as condiment, dye, drug and cosmetics in addition to its use in religious ceremonies. Rhizome is the economic part of turmeric and is well known for its medicinal properties along with its application in cosmetics and as natural dye in textile industry. Traditional Indian medicine uses turmeric powder for the treatment of biliary disorders, anorexia, coryza, cough, diabetic wounds, hepatic disorders, rheumatism and sinusitis. Various sesquiterpenes and curcuminoids have been isolated from the rhizome of C. longa, attributing a wide array of biological activities such as antioxidant anti-inflammatory wound healing, anticancer and antibacterial activity (Arulselvi et al, 2012) [2] . As a powder, it has been in continuous use for its flavouring, as a spice in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food preparations and it also has digestive properties (Govindarajan, 1980) [12] . Turmeric is also a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant (Song, 2001) [23] and has been shown by scientists to protect the liver against a variety of toxic substances. The powdered rhizome is considered to be stimulating, carminative, purifying, anti-inflammatory, and anthelmintic (Eigner, 1999) [9] . The medicinal property of turmeric is mainly due its bioactive compound curcumin. Spices play a major role in Andaman agriculture as they are well suited to grow in the plantation based cropping system of the Island. Turmeric is one of the major spices grown in both arecanut and coconut plantation as intercrops in organic system in Andaman Islands. Different varieties of turmeric are grown in the Island and Co-2 variety of turmeric released by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) is well adapted in the Island and front line demonstrations of this variety of turmeric is being undertaken in farmers’ field in different parts of the Island. The phytochemical and anti-microbial study in any species of the plant will held in identification of effective compounds and their efficacy in scavenging free radicals. Though numbers of studies have been done in general on the phytochemical and antimicrobial activity of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.). The study on phytochemical profiling of turmeric in the Island is not studied so far. The influence of the region and the organic mode of cultivation may have an effect in the chemical constituents. Once the quality parameters on this particular variety of turmeric Co-2 is analyzed, suggestions for cultivation of this crop and the industrial application owing to its medicinal properties will help in increasing the area of cultivation of this particular crop in the Island due to its market demand. Methods and Material Plant material and sample preparation The rhizomes of co 2 variety of Curcuma longa L. grown in glass house were harvested for further study. After washing the rhizomes were dried at 45 o C for 48 hours. The dried turmeric