Author(s)

Isaac Kojo Asante¹, Kofi Annan², Matthew Kweku Essilfie¹, Valentine Tater¹

¹Department of Botany, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
²Department of Pharmacognosy, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.

Five batches from the same stock of seeds of Ocimum basilicum were irradiated at 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 Gy, respectively using ⁶⁰C source. Methanolic leaf extracts of these samples and a control were evaluated for their antioxidant activity by the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging method using M₂ plants. All the methanolic extracts showed antioxidant activity. The IC₅₀ of the methanolic extracts of the six different treatments, control, 5 Gy, 10 Gy, 15 Gy, 20 Gy and 25 Gy, showed antioxidant activity with IC₅₀ values of 100, 90, 86, 61, 71 and 70 μg/ml, respectively. Three individual mutants, M-15-5, M-20-6 and M-15-4, had IC₅₀ values of 26, 30 and 40 μg/ml, respectively. These mutants were from the 15 Gy and 20 Gy treatments. From the results, it is confirmed that induced mutation can be employed to create variation in the levels of free radical scavenging activity in O. basilicum and can therefore serve as a tool for breeding for high levels of antioxidant activity in O. basilicum.

Ocimum basilicum, Nonirradiated, Irradiated, Antioxidant Activity, Mutant, 1, 1-Diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl

Asante, I. , Annan, K. , Essilfie, M. and Tater, V. (2016) Effect of Induced Mutation on Antioxidant Activity in Ocimum basilicum Linn. Natural Science, 8, 192-195. doi: 10.4236/ns.2016.84022.