Phytochemical, Proximate, and Mineral Analysis of Male and Female <i>Broussonetia luzonica</i> Leaves

Broussonetia luzonica, Family Moraceae, and locally called Himbabao, is a dioecious plant endemic to the Philippines. Despite extensive use of its flowers and young leaves as food, studies on Himbabao are limited, especially for the female species. In this study, the composition of both the male and female B. luzonica leaves was investigated through a proximate, mineral, and phytochemical analysis. The proximate analysis was done by standard methods of moisture, ash, protein, crude fiber, crude fat, and carbohydrate content determination. The mineral analysis was done by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy for copper, iron, sodium, zinc, and potassium, and by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy for phosphorus. The phytochemical analysis was done through the analysis of the derivatized and underivatized n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol fractions of the B. luzonica leaves using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The proximate analysis showed that carbohydrate was the highest composition of the male leaves, whereas crude fat was for the female leaves. The mineral analysis showed that B. luzonica is a significant source of minerals, especially potassium. A total of 42 compounds with biological capabilities were identified from the GC-MS profiling, with terpenes and terpenoids as the most abundant. The four extracts of both male and female leaves showed the presence of multiple compounds with known bioactivities, indicating possible health effects.