COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE PHYTOCHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF MALE AND FEMALE CARICA PAPAYA (PAW PAW) LEAVES

Abstract

Carica papaya, (pawpaw), belongs to the family of Caricaceae. Phytochemical screening of male and female Carica papaya (pawpaw) leaves were carried out. The phytochemicals tested for in the two species of pawpaw leaves are Alkaloids, Flavonoids, Glycosides, Reducing Sugar, Saponins, Steroids, and Tannin. The ethanoic, chloroform, and aqueous extracts of the male pawpaw leaves showed presence of all the tested phytochemicals except Glycosides and Reducing Sugar while in the Female pawpaw leaves, ethanoic and chloroform extracts show the presence of Alkaloids, Saponins, Steriods, and Tannins while Aqueous extract shows the presence of only Saponins and Tannins. The phytochemical screening shows that water is not the best extractant but ethanol and chloroform. The research also revealed that the male pawpaw leaves contain more phytochemicals than the female counterpart.