Determination of phenolic, flavonoid and tartaric acid contents in Berberis integerrima Bunge fruits collected from Badakhshan province of Afghanistan

چکیده

Barberry is one of the important medicinal, edible and export plants of 
Afghanistan. The fruit of this plant contains a large amount of organic acids, phenolic 
substances, flavonoids and vitamins and has a special place in the traditional medicine of 
country. Badakhshan province is one of the major barberry producing provinces in 
Afghanistan. Objective: The purpose of this study is to standardize and determine the amount 
of tartaric acid, phenolic and flavonoid content in barberry fruit (BBFs22) collected from 
Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan. Methodology: BBFs22 was collected from the sellers of 
medicinal plants located in Kabul and kept in the freezer until the measurement and 
evaluation. After identification and pharmacognostic evaluation of BBFs22 the amount of 
tartaric acid, phenolic and flavonoid content in the fruit, was determined using UV- Vis 
spectroscopy. All experiments were repeated three times.  
The studies conducted based on the available sources showed that the desired 
sample was Berberis integerrima Bunge. The results obtained from the pharmacognostic 
evaluation of the fruit indicated that the BBFs22 has 7.48± 0.13% moisture, 9.16± 1.3% 
foreign matter, 2.11± 0.05% total ash, 0.32± 0.05% acid insoluble ash, 28.15±0.19% water- 
soluble extractive content, and 23.77±0.97% methanolic extractive value. The result of 
phytochemistry studies showed that BBFs22 has flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, phenolic 
substances, saponin and mucilage as its active ingredients. The methanolic extract of BBFs22 
had 14.06±0.05 mg (w/w) of tartaric acid, 26.43±1.65 mg (w/w) of phenolics and 3.10±0.04 
mg (w/w) of flavonoids. Conclusion: BBFs22 has shown lower values in terms of numerical 
norms, however, the results obtained from the pharmacognostic evaluation of fruit are 
consistent with the standard values available in pharmacopoeias. In addition, although 
different solvents can be used to determine the amount of phenolics, flavonoids and tartaric 
acid, the results obtained from this study indicated that methanol is a better solvent than 
water. Keywords: Barberry; Standardization; Tartaric Acid; Phenolics; Flavonoid Content.