Profiling Total Phenolic Content of Different Seed Coloured Germplasm of Ratti (Abrus precatorius)

Abrus precatorius is a medicinal plant belonging to the family Fabaceae. The main biochemical constituent responsible for its medicinal value is abrin, a protein. The plant is native to India and has been used in the traditional medicinal system for the treatment of wide range of diseases. Inter alia, anti-oxidant activity is important since phenolic compounds play a crucial role in free radical scavenging. Ninety-nine accessions of Abrus precatorius from National Genebank at NBPGR were profiled for total phenolic content by folin ciocalteu reagent. IC0311747 (a completely white seeded accession) contained the lowest total phenolic content of 16.115 mg/g whereas IC0605143 (a completely black seeded accession) contained the highest total phenolic content of 44.637 mg/g.