PHYTOCHEMICAL PROFILING AND ANTIOXIDANT POTENTIAL OF COLOCASIA ESCULENTA L. COLLECTED FROM HIMACHAL PRADESH (INDIA).

Colocasia esculenta (Taro), an important medicinal tropical root crop consumed in traditional diets and healthcare systems. The present investigation aimed to study the phytochemicals and antioxidant capacity of leaf and corm extracts of C. esculenta collected from different agro-ecological locations of Himachal Pradesh, India. Preliminary screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolics, tannins, glycosides, saponins, proteins, and reducing sugars in most extracts, with methanolic and aqueous extracts showing higher extractability of phytoconstituents. Quantitative analysis showed significant variation (p < 0.05) in TPC and TFC among cultivars, plant parts, and solvents. Methanolic extracts exhibited the highest phenolic content, with maximum TPC recorded in wild corm samples (68.08 mg GAE/g DW), while the maximum flavonoid content (TFC) was observed in local cultivars from Bilaspur (BL) (181.20±0.48 mg QE/g DW) in chloroform extract. Antioxidant evaluation demonstrated significant DPPH radical scavenging activity, with the lowest IC₅₀ value (41.41 µg/mL) observed in aqueous wild leaf extract. The antioxidant potential showed a positive association with phenolic and flavonoid contents. Overall, the findings confirm that C. esculenta leaves and corms are rich sources of bioactive compounds with significant antioxidant activity. The observed variability among cultivars highlights the potential for selecting superior genotypes for functional food and pharmaceutical applications.