Northeast India represents a rich floristic wealth of India. Orchids form a very noticeable feature of this vegetation. Amongst orchids, the genus Dendrobium forms a very important group of plants which are used by the locals for the treatment of various ailments. A through literature survey revealed that there is a paucity of data on the phytochemical evaluation of Dendrobium species using analytical methods. The chromatographic technique such as HPTLC is reported to be useful for standardization of plant materials in terms of phytochemical markers and evaluation of their quality. Therefore, in this study, five different Dendrobium species have been evaluated and compared in terms of their marker content using validated HPTLC methods. All the samples analyzed were found to be a good source of β-sitosterol with maximum content in D. fimbriatum stem and minimum content in D. chrysanthum roots. D. nobile (roots and stem) and D. moschatum (stem) were also found to be a source of ursolic acid and lupeol, respectively. Thus, this work will contribute in the identification, quality evaluation and standardization of different Dendrobium species. On the basis of maximum bioactive marker content, specific part of Dendrobium species can be selected which may be supported by its efficacy.
Key words: Dendrobium species, HPTLC, phenolics, phytochemical variation, terpenoids
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