Assessment of phytochemical constituents, fatty acids profile and in vitro antioxidant activity in soapnut shell powder

Sapindus mukorossi, commonly called as soapnut, is an extremely valuable medicinal plant which possesses several biological and pharmacological properties. The present study was carried out to determine the phytochemical composition, saponin content, fatty acid profiles and in vitro assessment of antioxidant potential of soapnut shell powder (SSP) as a phytogenic feed additive for livestock and poultry feeding. The DM, CP, EE, CF, TA, Ca and P levels in SSP were 95.16, 5.01, 1.78, 2.21, 7.49, 0.24 and 0.41%, respectively. Total phenol (TP), non tannin phenols (NTP), total tannin (TT), condensed tannin (CT) and hydrolysable tannin (HT) levels in SSP were 1.43, 0.60, 0.83, 0.36 and 0.47%, respectively. The crude saponin extracted from SSP was 28.4% (DMB). SSP was composed of 68.8% saturated and 31.2% unsaturated fatty acids, respectively. The total antioxidant activity at the concentration 250 μg/ml of SSP was 57.16%. Thus, it could be concluded that SSP had high antioxidant activity which may be beneficial for livestock and poultry feeding.