Ecological Study and Phytochemical Analysis of Ageratum conyzoides in Three Selected States of South-East Nigeria

Abstract

Ageratum conyzoides is an annual herbaceous plant of American origin with a pantropical distribution. It belongs to the Asteraceae family. It owns a reputed history of indigenous remedial uses, including as a wound dressing, an antimicrobial, and mouthwash as well as in treatment of dysentery, diarrhea, skin diseases, etc. The plant has unique biological attributes and a raft of miscellaneous chemical compounds that render it a pharmacologically important herb. Ageratum conyzoides was gotten from three different states namely: Anambra, Enugu, and Imo state. They were air dried for seven days and taken to the laboratory for proper phytochemical screening. Ecological study on Ageratum conyzoides was also carried out. When the test for phytochemical constituent was carried out, the result of preliminary phytochemical analysis of Ageratum conyzoides showed that saponin, flavonoid, alkaloid, tannin, terpenoids, glycosides, carbohydrates, anthraquinones, and phenol were present in the three states while steroids, proteins, oil and resin, and reducing sugar were absent in the three states. The result for the ecological study of A. conyzoides in the three states showed that A. conyzoides has the highest species diversity, followed by Enugu, and then Imo state. The mean value of the species diversity is 2.09. The analysis of variance from the photochemical screening showed a significant difference in the percentage quantitative phytochemical composition between states and between extracts (p<0.05), while the species diversities are not significantly different from one another which show the homogeneity of the three states.