Total phenolic content, total flavonoid content and antioxidant activity evaluation of methanolic extracts of Momordica charantia L., Cucurbita pepo L. cultivar pumpkin, Ecballium elaterium (L.) A.Rich, Lagenaria siceraria L. cultivar Marankka

This study was designed to investigate the total phenolic content, total flavonoid content and antioxidant activity of fruits methanolic extracts from Momordica charantia L., Ecballium elaterium (L.) A.Rich, Cucurbita pepo L. cultivar pumpkin, Lagenaria siceraria L. cultivar Marankka belonging to Cucurbitaceae family. For this purpose, a factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications. The matured fruits were harvested from the research farm in Zanjan University during the September to December 2017. Phytochemical characteristics of total phenol content (Folin– Ciocalteu method), total flavonoid (Aluminum Chloride method) and antioxidant activity (DPPH method) were evaluated. The highest level of phenolic and flavonoid contents was recorded for the fruit methanolic extracts  from the Ecballium elaterium (L.) and Momordica charantia L., with 85.5±3.5 mg GAE/g and 12.13±0.8, respectively. The results of DPPH test were showed that the methanolic extract of Momordica charantia exhibited potent activity (97.09%±0.96), followed by Ecballium elaterium (87.8%±1.5) and the lowest antioxidant activity related to methanolic extract of pumpkin fruit (58.02%±2.7). Furthermore, there was a strong correlation between flavonoids content and antioxidant activity (P=0.87) and also there was a positive correlation between phenolic content and antioxidant activity (P=0.54). Generally, the phytochemical analysis showed that, Ecballium and Karella extracts here rich in polyphenol compounds against other sspecies and can be used as food.drug-