COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON CURCUMIN CONTENT IN FRESH AND STORED SAMPLES OF TURMERIC RHIZOMES

Abstract

Turmeric or Indian saffron contains curcumins as triterpenoidal derivatives. Turmeric rhizomes are used in India since ancient time for anti asthmatic, antidiabetic, chronic fever, antiseptic, wound healing etc. Rhizomes are mostly cultivated in Sangli district which is today known as saffron city. The cultivated rhizomes are traditionally prepared by and stored in pit holes (‘PEV’) made in ground near by Haripur village. The pits are made under the ground about 20-25 feet deep and 15-18 feet diameter and smeared with mud. The claims made by traditional suppliers that “pev” stored turmeric fetches more economic prize compare to air or sun dried and normal stored rhizomes. It was important to evaluate the local claim and find out the exact causes for the preservation of turmeric rhizomes in Pev. In the present work we had analyzed the soil sample from Haripur region located on the banks of Krishna river. The samples of rhizomes were collected from Pev owners after every six months and were inspected for insect or fungal attacks and compared with local marketed samples. The total curcumin content was estimated by simple spectroscopic method using methanolic extract of different samples of rhizomes. The soil content of the Haripur region showed presence of common mineral salts along with silicates and selenium which has antioxidant activity. The linearity of calibration was obtained with coefficient 0.9997. It was found that curcumin content varies from fresh to stored rhizomes (3.426 ±1.42 SD to 5. 784 ±1.32 SD) up to 2.5 years. After 3 years samples showed decrease in curcumin content (3.186 ±1.012 SD). This confirms the traditional and local claims about storage conditions and also the prevention of the rhizomes from the microbial attacks.