Medicinal Plants - International Journal of Phytomedicines and Related Industries

People in Thailand utilises hemp (Cannabis sativa L. subsp. sativa) for both medicinal and industrial purposes. This plant also generates significant biomass in the form of leaves, stems, and roots. The country’s recent value addition approach signifies a target to minimise waste and maximise value-added products. However, there is a lack of readily available information on phytochemical analyses of these intermediate materials, which is crucial for the efficient recovery of bioactive ingredients. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the proximate composition, yield of extraction, phytochemical, antioxidant activity and chemical profiles of the underutilised parts of processed hemp tissue. The proximate results revealed that the dried leaves had a high protein content of up to 21.84%. By sequential extraction of polysaccharides from the biomass, the extraction yield of ethanol 80% and acidic pectin were highest in the leaves (10.49% and 8.55%). The stems (5.34%) showed a higher yield ammonium oxalate extraction than the leaves (3.06%). The roots were reported with the highest cellulose yield (73.47%) as compared to the leaves (33.76%). The leaf biomass had the highest total phenolic (9.33 mg GAE/g) and total flavonoid (11.31 mg CE/g) contents, as well as the highest antioxidant activity with the lowest IC50. The HPLC analysis revealed that leaves and stems were found rich in phenolic compounds like gallic acid, caffeic acid, and the flavonoid epicatechin. The findings from this study could serve as a guideline for utilising biomass generated from cannabis that could be used for pharmaceutical, food, and feed value-addition purposes.