Pharmacognostic Evaluation of Zingiber Officinale and Curcuma Longa from Perlis for Therapeutic Discovery

The medicinal properties of a plant are sought after for its potential therapeutic properties. Through its phytochemicals, numerous biological activities have been reported scientifically and were developed as an active pharmaceutical ingredient for biological products. Hence, this study evaluated the locally produced Zingiber officinale and Curcuma longa obtained from Padang Besar, Perlis, for their pharmacognostic properties. Quality control assessments were conducted to determine the cleanliness of the raw materials before proceeding with the pharmacognostic evaluation. The extracts for both plants were prepared through ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE) and maceration using methanol, ethanol, and distilled water. The phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and protein for each extract were investigated. The total phenolic compounds revealed that the combination of UAE and methanol had the highest value for both plant samples. On the other hand, the total flavonoid content suggests that UAE in ethanol solvent was the best approach to extract flavonoids for both plants. On the contrary, maceration techniques extracted the highest protein content for both plants. The biological testing for therapeutic evaluation based on the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl scavenging assay unraveled the methanol UAE was the potent extract for Z. officinale and C. longa, with half maximal inhibitory concentration, IC50 values of 0.39 and 0.32 mg/mL, respectively. Altogether, the findings obtained from these studies showed that Z. officinale and C. longa from Perlis showed good quality conditions, high content of phytochemicals, and potent antioxidant properties suitable for further herbal drug development studies.