Abstract

Medicinal plants include various types of plants used in herbalism or herbal medicine. It is the use of plants for medicinal purposes, and the study of such uses. The use of medicinal plants is gaining popularity all over the world; hence the need to exploit various plant that could be of economic importance to both man and animal. Centella asiatica is one of such plants that are underutilized. Therefore, investigating the chemical and elemental constituents of C. asiatica leaf meal is very vital. The phytochemical analyses, proximate composition, vitamin and mineral concentrations were determined using standard procedures. Considerable quantity of phytochemical compounds such as phenolic, saponin, flavonoids, phytate and tannin were determined and the values obtained for these components were 2.75, 8.20, 12.85, 0.76 and 0.0%, respectively. While for the proximate: 95.76, 2.77, 12.40, 2.80, 2.40 and 75.44% were obtained for dry matter, crude fiber, crude protein, ash, ether extract and carbohydrate. The leaf meal contains appreciable quantity of calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus and sodium. Vitamins A, C and B6 are readily available in the leaf meal while E and B1 are not available. The nutrient composition of C. asiatica revealed that it contains some bioactive components which can serve as feed supplements in animal production and improve human health.

Key words: Chemical analysis, Centella asiatica, vitamins, minerals, additives, proximate.