Investigation of Bioactivities and Physicochemical Properties of Four DifferentCurcuma Species Available in Sri Lanka

To enhance the value of the unexplored medicinal herbs in sri lanka, this study was focused on the physicochemicalanalysis and investigation of biological activities of four different curcuma species abundantly dispersed in sri lankanamely, curcuma albiflora thwaites, curcuma aromatica salisb., curcuma longa l. and curcuma zedoaria roxb. manyspecies in genus curcuma were rich with phenolic compounds. the total phenolic content (tpc) of dried rhizomes ofcurcuma longa was the highest of all (5.530 g of ga equivalents/1 g of dried rhizome). the average antioxidantproperties in the dpph test was reported in meoh extracts of the rhizome and leaf samples of four species. further themeoh extracts exhibited the inhibitory activities toward α-amylase enzyme with ic50 values ranging from 6.455 μg/ml to307.475 μg/ml. the present study shows that sri lankan curcuma species have a potency to be used as antioxidant andantidiabetic agents. this information particularly physicochemical constants such as moisture content, total ash, acidinsoluble ash and water-soluble ash values will be helpful in standardization of quality, purity and authentication of thesemedicinal plants for preventing its raw materials adulteration.