PROJECT PROPOSAL

ON

PHYTHOCHEMICALS AND MEDICINAL IMPORTANCE OF NEEM

LEAVES (AZADIRACA INDICA)

AT MAI IDRIS ALOOMA POLYTECHNIC GEIDAM

YOBE STATE

BY

2020/ND/SLT/014

AISAMI BARDE

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND LABORATORY TECHNOLOGY,

SCHOOL OF SCIENCE

SUBMITTED TO MAL. SANI ABBA NASIDI

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INTRODUCTION:

1.1 Background of the Study

Neem plant (Azadirachta indica) is a native of India, where it is known as

divine tree; “life giving tree”. It belongs to maliceae family. Away from India, it
is commonly found in Africa and America. It occurs naturally in tropical region
and sub-tropical zones. However, it can still be planted or cultivated. Neem tree
is an incredible therapeutic plant that has been declared the tree of the 21st
century by the United Nations. The plant kingdom represents a rich store house
of organic compounds, many of which have been used for medicinal purposes
and could serve as a lead for the development of novel agents having good
efficacy in various pathological disorders in the coming years. Neem plant is
considered to be the richest sources of drugs for traditional medicine, modern
medicine, nutraceuticals, food supplements, folk medicine, pharmaceutical
intermediates and chemical entities for synthetic drugs. Some of the
phytochemicals contained in Neem plant have been isolated, quantified and
identified through Intensive studies. These bioactive chemicals have provided
leads in the development of several lifesaving drugs, which are in use today.
Extract from Azadiracta indica, which is referred to as dogonyaro in some parts
of Nigeria are mostly recommended in ancient medical texts. The leaves can be
used as drug for diabetes, eczema and fever. Thus, the objective of this research
was to ascertain the phytochemical constituents of neem plant and relate it to
some of its traditional use.

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1 .2 Research Problem

Neem (Azadirachta indica) is one of the very few trees known in the Indian
subcontinent (Puri, 1999). This tree belonged to Meliceae family, and grows
rapidly in the tropic and semi-tropic climate. It is also observed that this tree
could survive in very dry and arid conditions.(Puri, 1999). Extract from the
Neem tree (Azadirachta indica) also called ‘Dogonyaro’ in Nigeria is most
consistently recommended in ancient medical texts for gastrointestinal upsets,
diarrhoea and intestinal infections, skin ulcers and malaria (Schmutterer, 1995).
All parts of Neem plant such as leaves, bark, flower, fruit, seed and root have
advantages in medical treatment and industrial products. Its leaves can be used
as drug for diabetes, eczema and reduce fever. ). Every part of neem tree have
been known to possess a wide range of pharmacological properties, especially
as antibacterial, antifungal, antiulcer, antifeedant, repellent, pesticidal,
molluscicidal, ecdysone inhibitor and sterilant and is thus commercially
exploitable (Biswas et al., 2002; Das et al., 2002), and hence, traditionally used
to treat large number of diseases (Van Der Nat et al., 1991).

Although Omoregie and Opanachi (1992) worked on the acute toxicity of the
extract of Neem leaf on fish, this work focuses on the effect on the external
microbial load of the fish Clarias gariepinus. This work provides information
on the useful dosages of Neem leaf extract in treating microbial load on the fish.

1.3 Aims and Objectives

Neem Azadirachta indica is a useful traditional medicinal plant growing in

Nigeria, India, and America. The phytochemicals and the biopesticidal
components present were ascertained. The aims is to show the results that
saponins, steroids and terpenes were mostly present, while tannins and
glycosides were moderately present, and alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols and

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oxalic acid were least present. The presence of these phytochemical could
account for the therapeutic uses of neem.

1.4 Significant of the Study

The medicinal utilities have been described especially for neem leaf. Neem leaf
and its constituents have been demonstrated to exhibit immunomodulatory, anti-
inflammatory, antihyperglycaemic, antiulcer, antimalarial, antifungal,
antibacterial, antiviral, antioxidant, antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic
properties.

1.5 Material And Method

Phytochemical Analysis

Phytochemicals were analyzed from the neem leaf using the following methods:

1.5.1 Flavanoid: this was determined based on the method of Bohn and
Kopcipal-Abyazan (1994). 10g of the plant sample were extracted
repeatedly with 100ml of 80% aqueous methanol at room temperature for
30 minutes. The whole solution was filtered through whatman filter paper
No45 (125mm). The filtrate was later transferred into a crucible and
evaporated to dryness over a water bath and weighed to a constant
weight.
1.5.2 Alkaloid: 5g of the sample were weighed into a 250ml beaker and 200ml
of 10% acetic acid in ethanol were added and covered and allowed to
stand for 4hrs. This was filtered and the extract was concentrated in a
water bath to one-quarter of the original volume. Concentrated
ammonium hydroxide was added drop-wise to the extract (and
ammonium hydroxide was added drop-wise to the extract) until the
precipitate was completed. The whole solution was allowed to settle and
alkaloid precipitated. The precipitate was washed with dilute ammonium

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 hydroxide then filtered. The residue is the alkaloid which was dried and
weighed (Harborne, 1973).
1.5.3 Saponin: The samples were pound and 20g of each were put into a
conical flask and 100cm3 of 20% aqueous ethanol were added. The
samples were heated over a hot water bath for 4hrs with continuous
stirring at about 55oc. The mixture was filtered and the residue re-
extracted with another 200ml 20% ethanol. The combined extracts were
reduced to 40ml over water bath at about 90oC. The concentrate was
transferred into a 250ml separation funnel and 29ml of diethyl ether was
added and shaken vigorously. The aqueous layer was recovered white the
other layer was discarded. (Obadoni and Ochuko, 2001).
1.5.4 Hydro-cyanides: A portion (5g) of each sample was grinded into paste
and dissolved in 50 ml distilled water in a corked conical flask. The
extraction was allowed to stay overnight (12 hrs). The sample was filtered
and the filtrate was used for the cyanide determination. To 1 ml of the
sample filtrate in a corked test tube, 4 ml of alkaline picrate was added
and incubated in a water bath for 5 minutes and the absorbance was read
at 490 nm. The absorbance of the blank which contained only 1 ml
distilled water and 4 ml alkaline picrate solution was read and used to
stabilize the spectrophotometer before taking the absorbance of the
samples (Onwuka, 2005).
1.6 Statistical Analysis

One-way ANOVA was conducted to assess the variations in the water quality
variables among the various concentrations of the neem leaf extract. The test
was carried out using Minitab 17th edition at p<0.05.

A probit analysis was conducted on the mortalities of the microbes on the

external body of the fish versus the concentration of the neem leaf concentration
on Minitab 17th Edition. The TCC (4.10 X 106 cfu/g) and TVC (6.0 X 106 cfu/g)

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load on the control was considered as the mean total tenable load on the body of
Clarias gariepinus juveniles of that stock. The lethal concentrations were noted
of LC50, LC60, LC70, LC80, LC90 and LC99.

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REFREENCES
Adams M.R. and Moses M.O. (2008). Food Microbiology (3rd Edition). The Royal Society of Chemistry,
Cambridge, UK.

Adegoke, G.O. (2004). Understanding Food Microbiology, 2 nd (Edition). Alleluia Ventures, Ibadan, Nigeria
pp:216.

Al Ghabshi A, Al-Khadhuri H, Al-Aboudi N, Al- Gharabi S, Al-Khatri A, Al Mazrooei N, Sudheesh PS. (2012).
Effect of the Freshness of Starting Material on the Final Product Quality of Dried Salted Shark.
Advance Journal of Food Science and Technology 2012; 4(2): 60-63.

Barton, B. A. and G. K. Iwama (1991). Physiological Changes in Fish from Stress in Aquaculture with
Emphasis on the Response and Effects of Corticosteroids. Annu. Rev. Fish Dis. 1:3–26.

Biswas, K., I. Chattopadhyay, R. K. Banerjee and U. Bandyopadhyay (2002). Biological Activities and
Medicinal Properties of Neem (Azadirachta indica).Curr. Sci. 82: 1336–1345

Bohn, B.A. and M.R Koupai-Abyazani (1994). Flavonoids and Condensed Tannins from Leaves of Hawaiian
Vaccinium reticulatum and V. calycinum (Ericaceae), Pac. Sci, 48: 458-463.

Cruz, C., J. G. Machado-Neto and M. L. Menezes (2004). Toxicidade aguda do insecticida Paration metílico e
do biopesticida azadiractina de folhas de neem (Azadirachta indica) para alevino e juvenil de pacu
(Piaractus mesopotamicus). Pesticidas: R. Ecotoxicol. e Meio Ambiente 14: 92–102.

Das, B. K., S. C. Mukherjee and O. Murjani. (2002). Acute toxicity of neem (Azadiractha indica) in Indian
major carps. J. Aquac. Trop., 17:23–33.

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