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Abstract

Fabaceae family is third largest family in world. It is also known as the legumes, pea, bean, or pulse family. It is also a vital family of flowering plants. The family is divided into six sub-families: Caesalpinioideae, Cercidoideae, Detarioideae, Dialiodeae, Duparquetioideae, Faboideae or Papilionoideae. Legumes are essential for human nutrition which consists proteins, minerals, calories and vitamins. It is also known as grain legumes because they are edible. Legumes are used for crops, manures and forages. It is also used in nitrogen fixing by the help of bacteria Rhizobium, it shows symbiotic relationships with each others. Fabaceae family consists several phytoconstituents such as Flavonoids, Saponins, Alkaloids, Phenols, Tannins, Glycosides, Terpenoids etc. The present review paper emphasis on 25 plants of Fabaceae family. The plants are mentioned with which plants parts are used by using of various solvents with their presence of phytoconstituents.

Keywords

Fabaceae family, Legumes, Phytoconstituents

Introduction

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Fabaceae family is known as the legume, pea, bean, or pulse family and it is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The name ‘Fabaceae’ comes from extinct genus ‘Faba’ which is included in ‘Vicia’ (Asfaw et al ., 2021). It is the most common family found in tropical rainforests and in dry forests in the Americans and Africa (Rahman et al ., 2014). Fabaceae is the third largest family of plants in the world having approximately 19,500 species and 770 genera (Maroyi, 2023). Astragalus with 2400 species, Acacia with 950 species, Indigofera with 700 species, Crotalaria with 700 species, and Mimosa with 500 species are largest genera which contain approximately 9.4% of all flowering plant species (Ahmad et al ., 2016). The family is divided into six sub-families that is Caesalpinioideae (148 genera and 4400 species), Cercidoideae (12 genera and 335 species), Detarioideae (84 genera and 760 species), Dialiodeae (17 genera and 85 genera), Duparquetioideae (monotypic genus), and Faboideae or Papilionoideae (503 genera and 14000 species) (Maroyi, 2023). Fabaceae family are trees, shrubs, sub-shrubs, woody lianas, climbing annuals, herbs and aquatics. Leaves are compound, double compound or trifoliolate and sometimes it have swollen leaf base. Flowers are asymmetric, bilaterally symmetric or radially symmetric and bats, birds, insects pollinate them. Usually fruit is two-valved, dehiscent pods, rarely freshly but can occasionally indehiscent and split into two segments and its ovary is superior with one locular (Maroyi, 2023). Legumes are vital to human nutrition for their rich sources of proteins, calories, minerals and vitamins. In Afro-Asian dietary practices, legumes serve as the primary sources of protein and calories, influenced by both economic factors and cultural traditions. Legumes are also known as grain legumes because they are mainly grown for their edible seeds. Grain legumes are used as pulses (dhal) with cereals and are cultivated in both tropical and temperate regions in worldwide. They increase the protein content of cereal-based diets and may enhance the overall nutritional quality of these diets. Cereal proteins are lack in certain essential amino acids, especially lysine. Conversely, legumes are known to provide sufficient levels of lysine; however, they are low in sulfur-containing amino acids such as methionine, cystine, and cysteine (Iqbal et al ., 2006). Legumes are used as crops, forages and green manures. It also synthesize a huge range of natural products such as flavours, drugs, poisons and dyes. Legumes are useful for plants for converting atmospheric nitrogen to nitrogenous compounds (Patel et al ., 2014). It is done by the bacteria of the genus Rhizobium which is present in the root nodules. Here both bacteria and legumes developed symbiotic relationship so they are able to fix free nitogen for plants and in return legumes are able to provide fixed carbon which is produced by photosynthesis (Ahmad et al ., 2016). Because of fixing atmospheric nitrogen for protein synthesis its foods have their own nutritional value (Asfaw et al ., 2021).

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Phytoconstituents:                                                   

Phytoconstituents are naturally occurring, biologically active substances that can be found in plants that promote human health by serving as nutrients and therapeutic substances. Phytoconstituents are founds in various parts of plants like in root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit and seeds. Phytoconstituents are classified into primary and secondary metabolites, on the basis of their role in plant metabolism. Primary metabolites are common sugars, amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids, chlorophylls etc. Secondary metabolites are alkaloids, terpenes, flavonoids, lignans, plant steroids, curcumins, saponins, phenolics, and glucosides (Koche et al ., 2016). Here some plants of Fabaceae family are mentioned with their phytoconstituents in various solvents:

Sr. No

Plant Name

Plant Parts

Solvents

Phytoconstituents

References

1

Acacia berlandieri

Leaves, Stem bark

30% Acetone

Diterpenes, Sterols, Phenols, Tannins, Flavonoids, Saponins

(Cavazos, 2021)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20% Methanol

Diterpenes, Phenols, Sterols, Flavonoids, Saponins

7% Acetic acid

Diterpenes, Sterols, Phenols, Tannins, Flavonoids, Saponins

2

Acacia rigidula

30% Acetone

Cardic glycosides, Sterols, Diterpenes, Flavonoids, Phenols, Tannins, Saponins

20% Methanol

Diterpenes, Sterols, Phenols, Tannins, Flavonoids, Saponins

7% Acetic acid

 

Cardiac glycosides, Sterols, Diterpenes, Phenols, Tannins, Flavonoids, Saponins

3

Acacia nilotica

Pods

Aqueous

Alkaloids, Phenolic, Tannins, Flavonoids, Glycosides, Saponins, Anthraquinones, Coumarins, Anthocyanins

(Mohamadou et al ., 2024)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hydroethanolic

Alkaloids, Phenolic, Tannins, Flavonoids, Terpenoids, Glycosides, Anthraquinones, Coumarins, Anthocyanins

4

Bauhinia reticulata

Bark

Aqueous

Alkaloids, Phenolic, Tannins, Flavonoids, Glycosides, Anthraquinones, Coumarins, Anthocyanins

Hydroethanolic

Alkaloids, Phenolic, Tannins, Flavonoids, Terpenoids, Saponins, Glycosides, Coumarins, Anthraquinones, Anthocyanins

5

Tamarindus indica

Bark

Aqueous

Alkaloids, Phenolic, Tannins, Flavonoids, Terpenoids, Saponins, Anthraquinones, Glycosides, Coumarins, Anthocyanins

Hydroethanolic

Alkaloids, Phenolic, Flavonoids, Terpenoids, Tannins, Glycosides, Anthraquinones, Coumarins, Anthocyanins, Saponins

Leaves

Ethanol

Alkaloids, Flavonoids, Phenols, Glycosides, Resins, Saponins, Tannins, Furocoumarins, Triterpenoids, Carbohydrates, Coumarins

(Mehdi et al ., 2019)

Aqueous

Flavonoids, Phenols, Glycosides, Resins, Saponins, Tannins, Furocoumarins, Triterpenoids, Carbohydrates

6

Albizia richardiana Benth

Bark

Methanol

Carbohydrates, Saponins, Glucosides, Glycosides, Alkaloids

(Rahman et al ., 2015)

7

Acacia catechue

Leaves

Water

Carbohydrates, Alkaloids, Flavonoids, Resin, Protein, Anthocyanin, Saponin, Steroids, Tannins, Glycoside, Phenol, Terpenoids

(Tripathi et al ., 2017)

 

Methanol

Carbohydrates, Alkaloids, Flavonoids, Resin, Protein, Saponin, Steroids, Tannins, Phenol, Terpenoids

Petroleum ether

Carbohydrates, Alkaloids, Flavonoids, Protein, Anthocyanin.  Steroids, Tannins, Glycoside, Phenol, Terpenoids

Stem

Water

Carbohydrates, Alkaloids, Flavonoids, Protein, Resin, Saponin, Anthocyanin, Steroid, Glycoside, Phenol, Terpenoids

Methanol

Carbohydrates, Alkaloids, Flavonoids, Protein, Resin, Saponin, Anthocyanin, Steroid, Phenol, Terpenoids

Petroleum ether

Carbohydrate, Alkaloid, Protein, Flavonoid, Steroid, Phenol, Glycoside

Roots

Water

Carbohydrates, Alkaloids, Flavonoids, Protein, Resin, Saponin, Anthocyanin, Steroid, Glycoside, Phenol, Terpenoids

Methanol

Carbohydrate, Alkaloids, Flavonoid, Protein, Resin, Anthocyanin, Saponin, Steroid, Tannin, Phenol, Terpenoids

Petroleum ether

Carbohydrate, Alkaloids, Flavonoid, Protein, Resin, Steroid, Tannin, Glycoside, Phenol

8

Prosopis cineraria

Leaves

Water

Carbohydrate, Alkaloids, Flavonoid, Protein, Resin, Steroid, Anthocyanin, Saponin, Glycoside, Phenol, Terpenoids

Methanol

Carbohydrate, Alkaloids, Flavonoid, Protein, Resin, Saponin, Steroid, Tannin, Phenol, Terpenoids

Petroleum ether

Carbohydrate, Alkaloids, Flavonoid, Protein, Phenol, Glycoside, Anthocyanin

Stem

Water

Carbohydrate, Alkaloids, Flavonoid, Protein, Resin, Saponin, Anthocyanin, Steroid, Glycoside, Phenol, Phlobatanin, Terpenoids

Methanol

Carbohydrate, Alkaloids, Flavonoid, Protein, Resin, Saponin, Steroid, Tannin, Phenol, Phlobatanin, Terpenoids

Petroleum ether

Carbohydrate, Alkaloids, Flavonoid, Protein, Resin, Steroid, Glycoside, Phenol, Phlobatanin, Terpenoids

9

Passiflora edulis

Fruit

Ethanol

Cardiac glycosides, Tannins, Flavonoids, Sterol, Emodols, Alkaloids, Anthracenosides, Glycosides, Saponins, Triterpenes, Phlobatinins, Reducing sugars

(Jagessar, 2017)

Aqueous

Tannins, Emodols, Saponins, Anthracenosides, Glycosides, Reducing sugars

10

Vicia faba L.

Ethanol

Cholesterol, Tannins, Cardiac glycosides, Flavonoids, Saponins, Emodols, Glycosides, Alkaloids, Phlobatinins, Reducing sugars

Aqueous

Tannins, Glycosides, Alkaloids, Sterol, Triterpenes, Saponins

11

Cyamopsis tetragonolobo L.

Seeds

Methanol

Saponin, Quinone, Phenol, Steroids, Flavonoid, Cardiac glycoside, Terpenoid

(Ganatra et al ., 2013)

Ethanol

Quinone, Phenol, Flavonoid, Terpenoid

Acetone

Quinone, Phenol, Steroids, Flavonoid, Cardiac glycoside, Terpenoid

Ethyl acetate

Quinone, Phenol, Steroids, Flavonoid, Cardiac glycoside, Terpenoid

n-Hexane

Quinone, Phenol, Steroids, Flavonoid, Terpenoid

13

Abrus precatorius Linn

Aerial parts

Methanol

Alkaloids, Flavonoids, Phenol, Saponins, Steroids, Tannins

(Gnanaraja et al ., 2014)

14

Cajanus cajan

Flavonoids, Tannins, Saponin

15

Cicer arietinum Linn.

Aerial parts

Reference

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Jyoti Prajapati
Corresponding author

Department of Botany, Bioinformatics and Climate Change Impacts Management, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad-380009, Gujarat India

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Anusha Maitreya
Co-author

Department of Botany, Bioinformatics and Climate Change Impacts Management, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad-380009, Gujarat India

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Himanshu Pandya
Co-author

Department of Botany, Bioinformatics and Climate Change Impacts Management, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad-380009, Gujarat India

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Hitesh Solanki
Co-author

Department of Botany, Bioinformatics and Climate Change Impacts Management, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad-380009, Gujarat India

Jyoti Prajapati*, Anusha Maitreya, Himanshu Pandya, Hitesh Solanki, A Review on Bioactive Compounds of Fabaceae Family, Int. J. Sci. R. Tech., 2025, 2 (8), 266-272. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16892904

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