Chemical Composition and Ethnobotany of Livistona jenkinsiana Griff : An Endangered Thatching Palm Tree of Eastern Himalayas

Objectives: To study the uses of various parts and cultivation of Livistona jenkinsiana among tribal people of Arunachal Pradesh in addition to study the chemical composition and the related health benefits if any. Methods: Field survey and interview were used for ethnobotany and GC-MS was used in the studies of chemical compositions. Results: This study reports numbers of volatile and non-volatile compounds from the fruit of Livistona jenkinsiana with various health benefits. Presence of remarkable high percentage of trehalose sugar is reported in this work from the fruit of L. jenkinsiana. The study also reports various uses of the parts of this palm tree as thatching tree, fencing and house construction. The study also reports need of conservation of this bioculturally important endangered and threatened thatching palm tree. Conclusion: L. jenkinsiana is a bioculturally and economically important endangered thatching palm tree. The fruit could be a source of plant originated fats and trehalose sugar. Fifty percent of compounds present in this fruit are useful in various health problems. There should be further scientific studies in the domains of industrial utility of this underutilized palm tree.


INTRODUCTION
2] Tribal people of Arunachal Pradesh use natural resources in almost all aspects of their life.For instance, Food they eat is collected from forest, medicine they use is collected from forest and house they stay is also constructed by using materials collected from forest.People live in Arunachal Pradesh, an Indian state lie in the Eastern Himalayas use innumerable plant resources in day to day life.Livistona jenkinsiana Griff.; an endangered and threatened species is used in many useful purposes.
To study the ethnobotany of this tree and also the chemical composition of the edible part of fruit of this tree, present study was carried out.4][5][6][7] Livistonia species has a wide distribution; distributed in Africa, South Arabia, South East and Eastern Asia, Malaysia and Australia, China and Thailand.L. jenkinsiana was first described by William Griffith in1845 from collection made in 1842 by Major Francis Jenkins from Nowgaon, Assam, 8 the type specimen is still available in the National Botanical Garden of Belgium. 9] However, no detail work has yet been done on this important tree in relation to the local people of Arunachal Pradesh except a limited report on Adi community, 11 while this palm tree is one of the most important and indispensable biocultural tree of these regions.Field visit, questionnaire, personal observation, interview are some useful input to research ethnobotany while GC-MS is one of the advanced tools to study chemical compositions of biological origin.The present study was carried out to study the uses of different parts of L. jenkinsiana by using Field visit, questionnaire, personal observation and interview and the chemical composition of the fruit was studied by using GC-MS analysis.GC-MS is highly effective and versatile analytical techniques with numerous scientific applications to cater the field of applied Sciences and Technology.

Plant material
L. jenkinsiana is erect and unbranched crowned with leaves, attains about 25 m (Figure 1).Leaves are palmate, long petiole with spines, inflorescence are axillary and interfoliar, spathe is redish brown and hard.Flowers creamy white, fruit drupe and copper brown colour, flowering February-March.The ethnobotany was taken from personal experiences, observations, field survey, interactions and interviews in the Upper Siang District, Lower Siang District and West Siang District of Arunachal Pradesh, a total of twenty five villages were visited in which 130 villagers including thirty teenager and fifty adult each woman and man were participated in interview.Fruit (Figure 2) was collected from my own farm of Sille Village of East Siang District of Arunachal Pradesh.

Preparation of extract
The mature fruit of L. jenkinsiana was collected in the month of February and kept for two weeks to ripe in a shade place of house by wrapping in a polygene bag .The ripe sample was separated from stony seed/nut and shade dried then pulverized into powder by using a grinder.500g of sample powder of was soaked in ethanol (Merck) for 72 h with intermittent shaking then filtered through Whatmann No. 41 filter paper and concentrated on water bath to get semi solid mass/extract.

GC-MS Analysis
Gas-Chromatography Mass Specrometry (GC-MS) analysis of the ethanol extracts of J. livistona was carried out in Shimadzu GC-MS-QP-2010 plus system.RTx-5 Sil MS column (30 m X 0.25 mm id X 0.25 film thickness) was used for the analysis.The operating conditions of the column were as follows: Oven temperature program from 80°C to 210°C at 4°C/min withhold time of 2 min and from 210°C to 300°C at 15°C/min withhold time of 5 min, and the final temperature was kept for 20 min.The injector temperature was maintained at 270°C, the volume of injected sample was 0.3μl; pressure 85.4kPa, total flow 76.

Identification of Phyto composition
The identification of compounds was performed by comparing their mass spectra with data from NIST 11 (National Institute of Standards and Technology, US) and WILEY 8.

RESULTS
Use of leaves: Matured leaves are the main part that is used in thatching local house (Figure 3), grain store house (Figure 4), cow shed, piggery shed and rest house of jhum cultivation as well as in wet cultivation   farm.Usually, Tender leaves are also used in making bangles for girls as attire and also as a broom.Leaves with stalk is used as an umbrella in rainy days, it is also used in making an article called ebong/obo/botok in local dialect to protect the farmers from rain and sun when they work in farm.In practice, leaves are not collected in the full moon period to avoid damage made from insects; collected leaves are piled and allowed to dry before thatching.A typical local house needs at least 2500 leaves.

Use of stalk:
The stalk is used as firewood, fencing construction and as a rope.

Use of trunk:
The trunk is used in making floor of local house, as pillar and also in fencing construction.

Use of fruit:
The fruit is collected and allowed to ripe, fruit is full of oil and fats; it is consume raw or mix with salt and chilly in Pyrenium leaf and cook by keeping it over the fire place.Seed part is chew with pan.As a means of livelihood: A field survey at Pasighat town-the oldest and biggest town of all the studied area gave a data that there are five dealers from which buyers of the town dwellers buy their requirements to construct local house, kitchen, cow shed, piggery shed, rest house etc.Current rate was recorded at two rupee and fifty paisa per piece of leaf.Plantation: Seed propagation is easy and germination rate is almost 100 percent, Villagers sow the seed in the month of February, March and April; good germination rate of seed has been seen when seed is sow at 2 to 3 inches under the soil.Usually clearance of forest is not necessary to sow the seed.This tree is suitable for multiple cropping and almost all household have farm of Livistona tree in village.This tree is also planted on boundary to demarcate the boundary.Interview, interaction and questionnaire revealed that knowledge on the uses and importance on Livistona jenkinsiana plant as a thatching plant is cent percent among all participants irrespective of age and gender which reflects the popularity, importance and utility of this palm tree in the studied area.Chemical composition: The TIC peak (Figure 5) ethanol extract of L. jenkinsiana fruit contain forty three compounds (Table 1) out of which 22 compounds(Table 2) have been reported to be useful and biologically active against numbers of health problems like anticancer, antioxidant, prevention of uric acid formation etc (Table 2).Out of forty three compounds, Trehalose (Figure 6) occupied forty percent in the TIC peak area percentage, trehalose is an energy source.

DISCUSSION
Livistona jenkinsiana is a useful biocultural plant; this tree ia also a means of livelihood for farmers, it is rare as well as endangered.Propagation is not the major constraint to conserve this important biocultural plant but there is need of awareness and education.Almost all parts of this palm tree is useful.In various parts of the county poor people thatch their houses by using wild musa leaves or cane leaves which are difficult to handle and does not last long, while Livistona jenkinsisna leaves last long and could be an alternative.Modern restaurants and rest house can be given natural touch with cooling effects by using the leaves of this plant which has potential to attract customers and tourists.Decorative and household items like hat, broom and ebong could be introduced in rural market to curve out a means of livelihood.The ethanol extract of L. jenkinsiana fruit contain forty three compounds out of which 22 compounds have been reported to be useful and biologically active against numbers of health problems like anticancer, antioxidant, prevention of uric acid formation etc. Trehalose is an energy source and also a protectant against the effects of freezing or dehydration, an attractive ingredient in food, health and beauty and pharmaceutical products. 17commercially available in therapeutic products, including Herceptin®, Avastin®, Lucentis®,    furan is an Anticancer, antidote* 9,12-Octadecadienoyl Chloride, (Z,Z)-Increase zinc bioavailability*, Ergostane is an Anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenesis, liver protection and radioprotection activities, 22 Hinokiol is an Antiinflamatory, 23 Coniferyl alcohol, dihydrodi is Detaxicant of alcohol*, .gamma.-sitosterol is Antagonist*, Antimalarial, antifungal, Antioxidant, Anti-diabetic, Anti-angeogenic, Anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-diarrheal and antiviral. 24his palm tree is a bioculturally important tree and inseparable from the day to day life of the tribal people of Arunachal Pradesh.The fruit has potential of a major source of trehalose sugar (Figure 5); there is need of propagation, cultivation, farming and exploration of oil of this important palm tree.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Author would like to thank Principal and Institutional Biotech Hub, JN College Pasighat for Laboratory Permission and Facility.
and Advate®. 18Prevent oral dryness caused by dental treatment, 19 a unique sugar capable of protecting biomolecules against environmental stress, Trehalose has a key role in the survival of some plants and insects, termed anhydrobionts, in harsh environments, even when most of their water body is removed, it proved to be an active stabilizer of enzymes, proteins, biomasses, pharmaceutical preparations and even organs for transplantation. 20Digyycerol is Antibacterial, 21   An energy source or a protectant against the effects of freezing or dehydration, an attractive ingredient in food, health and beauty and pharmaceutical products. 18commercially available in therapeutic products, including Herceptin®, Avastin®, Lucentis®, and Advate®. 19Prevent oral dryness caused by dental treatment, 20 a unique sugar capable of protecting biomolecules against environmental stress, Trehalose has a key role in the survival of some plants and insects, termed anhydrobionts, in harsh environments, even when most of their water body is removed, it proved to be an active stabilizer of enzymes, proteins, biomasses, pharmaceutical preparations and even organs for transplantation. 21nticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenesis, liver protection and radioprotection activities. 22 Hinokiol Antiinflamatory. 23gamma.-sitosterolAntagonist*, Antimalarial, antifungal, Antioxidant, Anti-diabetic, Anti-angeogenic, Anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antidiarrhoeal and antiviral.24 *https://phytochem.nal.usda.gov/phytochem/chemicals/show/6193?et= 8 mL/min, column flow 1.21 mL/min, linear velocity 40.5 cm/sec, purge flow 3.0 mL/min, split ratio: 60.0; ion source temperature 230°C; scan mass range of m/z 40-600 and interface line temperature 280°C.The identification of compounds was performed by comparing their mass spectra with data from NIST 11 (National Institute of Standards and Technology, US) and WILEY 8.