Proximate, phytochemical, and antimicrobial evaluation of flowers of Mangifera indica L., stamens of Terminalia catappa L., and anther of Delonix regia (Bojer ex Hook.) Raf.

It is important to assess the medicinal and nutritional values of specific pollen grains particularly those found in abundance in honey to identify their specific bioactive components. To achieve this, the stamens of Termi-nalia catappa and flowers of Mangifera indica with pollen common in honey as well as uncommon pollen of Delonix regia were subjected to proximate, phytochemical, and antimicrobial analyses using four different solvents. The extracts were screened against human and plant pathogens at 100 and 200 mg/ml concentra-tions using disc diffusion method. Proximate analysis revealed that M. indica recorded the highest carbohy-drates (38.66 +/- 0.41%) and crude fat contents (19.50 +/- 1.06%), T. catappa recorded the highest proteins (21.33 +/- 0.62%) and moisture contents (31.50 +/- 0.25%) while D. regia recorded the highest crude fibre (30.78 +/- 0.07%). The phytochemical screening showed the presence of flavonoids, tannins, steroids, saponins, anthraqui-nones, cardiac glycosides, phenols, alkaloids, and terpenoids. N-hexane extract proved to be the best solvent for M. indica, aqueous extract was best for T. catappa while methanol was best for D. regia. The aqueous extract of T. catappa recorded the best bacterial inhibition followed by N-hexane extract of the same plant. Their high values are higher than Ciprofloxacin. Pollen extracts of D. regia however recorded the lowest bacte-rial inhibition across all solvents. Conversely, fungal inhibition was best by D. regia pollen extracts though at lower concentrations than the standard Clotrimazole. With their abundant availability, the tested pollen are here recommended for further evaluation for use in the food industry and for pharmacological consideration upon isolation of target bioactive compounds.(c) 2023 SAAB. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.