**3.2. Nutritive value of** *Opuntia elatior* **fruit extract**

**2.10. Gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy**

130 Phytochemicals - Source of Antioxidants and Role in Disease Prevention

Gujarat. The column was a fused silica capillary column.

growing and highly valued field of the medical industry.

**3. Result and discussion**

often used as a hair conditioner.

**3.1. Extract yield (%) of** *Opuntia elatior* **Mill**

The GC-MS method separates different chemical compound and correct identifies the component of chemical constitute. It is one of the most accurate tools for analyzing environmental samples. The GC works on the principle that a mixture will separate in to individual substances when heated. Mass spectroscopy identifies the compound by the mass of the analyte compounds is stored on a computer. A 1 ml of test sample of methanolic extract of *Opuntia elatior* fruit was analyzed by GC-MS. Concentration of the test sample was 10 mg/ml. The GC-MS analysis was done by electron impact ionization (EI) method on Auto system XL gas chromatography, coupled to a Turbo Mass Spectrophotometer at, Sophisticated and Instrumentation Centre for Applied Research and Training (SICART), Vallabh Vidyanagar,

Medicinal plants due to therapeutic values have long been used to address human diseases. From as early as 800 Before Common Era, plants and herbs were used for their medicinal properties. In ancient Indochina culture, herbal remedies were part of the day to day usage. India has a long history of safe and continuous usage of plant originated drugs. Officially recognize systems of medicine such as Ayurveda, unani, homeopathy and so on. Constantly use herbal drugs to cure illnesses. Today, these ancient practices of Southern Asia are widely

*Opuntia elatior* (prickly pear) uses as a highly nutritional rich food. These people are interested in healthy body and illness from disease often uses the prickly pear fruit. This fruit present the many medicinal properties in the fruit. In Mexican and India folk medicine, the cactus pulp and juice are used to treat many diseases like skin wounds, stomach swelling and digestive problems. The natural extract is a useful for alcohol hangovers, and the plant's gel-like sap is

This fruit is widely used in America, Mexico and many other counties. This fruit is part of their daily diet as it is highly nutritious but, not many people are aware about this fruit in India. It grows best in hot and dry regions and therefore can be easily cultivated in the north-western regions of India. Thus, this fruit was used to analyze its nutritional and medicinal properties.

Pharmaceutical industries prefer plants that yield higher extract and are rich in their potency. Therefore, the work was carried out with yield calculation. We have selected hexane, methanol and distilled water solvent for extracting the plant constituents. A 36.84% of extract was produced by methanol, 15.79% extract was produced by distilled water and 3.40% of extract was produced by hexane from 25 g of powder by using 230 ml of solvents shown in **Figure 3**. Maximum extract was produced by methanol and minimum extract was produced by hexane.

Appropriate knowledge about the nutritive value of fruit may enhance utility of the fruit. With the aim of increasing the utility, we have selected this fruit based on the ethno-botanical information and medicinal properties. For determination of nutritive value, various parameters were studied using fruit extract. *Opuntia elatior* fruit contained 84% moisture, as compared to *Opuntia ficus-indica* which had 87.07% moisture [18]. This shows that both the fruits have close moisture content and therefore are both great sources for reducing dehydration. This plant an indication of the stems adapted the storing water nature of the fruit pericarp. The small variation may result from difference in season whether wet or dry. Sample was collected during the driest month of the region when temperatures were over 35°C during May and June.

The percentage of various nutritional parameters that are analyzed in methanolic extract, distilled water extract and hexanoic extract of fruit are summarized in **Table 1**. Nutritive value of methanolic extract is higher than distilled water and hexanoic extract. As compared to Feugang *et al*. report *Opuntia spp.* contained 0.21–1.6% of protein, 0.09–0.7% of fat and 12–17% of carbohydrates whereas *Opuntia elatior* has 0.60%, 0.11% and 1.02% of protein, fat and carbohydrates respectively [19]. This shows that *Opuntia elatior* has an average protein and fat content and very low carbohydrate content.

*Opuntia elatior* fruit extract showed highest presence of vitamin C in distilled water extract that is 63.29 mg/ml. Hydrophilic extract of purple cactus pear fruit contains 36.6 mg/100 g of vitamin C [20]. From this we can say that *Opuntia elatior* is a rich source of vitamin C; this can help to reduce the oxidative stress in the human body. From the abovementioned, it can be seen that *Opuntia elatior* is a good source of nutrients.
