Antioxidant potential of some wild peppers

Wild relatives of the cultivars are now being given much attention by conservationists across the globe. The Piper genus is an extremely well known and widely distributed pantropical taxon of aromatic plants. The wild relatives of species Piper nigrum are reported from The Nilgiris, approximately 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) above sea level. The antioxidant assay of the fruits of Piper schimidtii, Piper mullesuaand Piper velayudhanii were conducted following DPPH Radical Scavenging Assay and Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC)assay by Phosphomolybdenum method. All the three wild pepper species fruits are found to possess credible antioxidant activity. Since both ethyl acetate and ethanol extract demonstrated antioxidantactivity, indicate the fact that structurally similar compound exhibits the property in the fruits of the plant.