ABSTRACT
Papaya (Carica papaya Linn) commonly called pawpaw is a tropical fruit cultivated on a large scale in Nigeria and other part of the world. The whole plant parts possess numerous medicinal properties for the treatment of different ailments such as malaria, ulcer, hypertension, diabetes and inflammatory diseases. Papaya possess numerous pharmacological activities like anti-inflammatory, antihypersensitivity and hypoglycemic properties. The study was aimed at determining the phytochemical constituents, proximate composition and nutrient value of carica papaya. The Male and Female leaves and roots were collected, dried and reduced to powered form by mechanical grinder separately. The crude methanol and aqueous extract of both leaves and roots of carica papaya were prepared by maceration. Glycosides, saponins, steroids and terpenoids were present in both male and female leaves of the aqueous extract, while glycosides, eugenols and terpenoids were obtained in the methanol extract. Eugenols was absent in the female leaves analysed. Proximate analysis of both male and female leaves and roots indicated the presence of moisture (%), (13.9/13.0 and 12.7/10.7), ash (3.9/6.0 and 5.6/7.9), protein (21.1/10.2 and 18.5/12.4), fibre (5.7/6.0 and 4.3/6.3), fat (4.7/3.3 and 5.0/2.9) and carbohydrate (64.5/73.4 and 66.5/70.3) respectively. This affirmed that the major nutritional component of papaya leaf was carbohydrate. The plant parts had (mg/100g), high potassium (379.7/355.2 and 354.8/ 342.9). However, for calcium, the male and female leaves had 105.0 and 98.02. The thin layer chromatography results indicated a high retention factor (Rf) value of 0.94 (colour yellow, solvent: ethylacetate/n-hexane/methanol (1:1:1). The functional group detected for the female leaves were observed at 3320.13cm-1 (O-H stretch) of carboxylic acid derivative, 1640.73cm-1 (C=C stretch) of unsaturated group and 1103.18 cm-1 of (C-O-C stretch) of ethers. The proximate and mineral analyses may provide both nutritive and therapeutic values to human and animals. Carica papaya leaves can be seen as a potential source of useful food and drug ingredients.
