Evaluation of phytoconstituents of Triticum aestivum grass extracts on nutritional attributes, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activities against food pathogens with molecular in silico investigation

Abstract

Abstract The plant‐based medicine and diet is gaining importance in recent days. The consumption of Triticum aestivum grass in the form of juice and tablets is increasing among common people. The present study elaborates on the nutritional, antioxidant, and antimicrobial potential of a nongenetically modified type of T. aestivum grass, along with the evidence of molecular docking studies. The T. aestivum grass extracts like decoction, aqueous, ethanol, and chloroform were subjected to preliminary phytochemical tests, quantitative estimation, antioxidant analysis, and antimicrobial activity determination. The ethanolic extract that had good antioxidant and antimicrobial potential was subjected to gas column–mass spectroscopy (GC–MS) analysis and the compounds identified were docked against the antioxidant and antimicrobial receptors. The decoction and aqueous extracts performed well in preliminary qualitative tests with the presence of most of the phytochemicals tested. The decoction, aqueous, and ethanolic extracts possessed good concentrations of the phytochemicals. The decoction had about 210.83 ± 9.16 and 154.16 ± 0.33 mg/g of carbohydrates and proteins, respectively, while the aqueous extract had about 10.91 ± 0.08 mg/g of amino acids and the ethanolic extract had about 52.5 ± 1.4 mg/g of phenolic content, which were the highest concentration of the phytochemicals observed among the extracts. Along with phytochemical potential, good antioxidant potential in the DPPH and ABTS by decoction as well as ethanolic extract with nearly 40 and 90% inhibition, respectively, and in FRAP by aqueous extract with maximum OD value. The ethanolic extract exhibited the best inhibition potential against the Staphylococcus aureus about 28 ± 1 mm, Pseudomonas aeruginosa with 20 ± 2 mm, Bacillus cereus at 20 ± 1 mm by the ethanolic extract at 200 μg concentration, and Aspergillus fumigatus and A. niger at 15 ± 0 mm by the aqueous extract at 200 μg concentration. The GC–MS analysis revealed the presence of terpenoids, alkaloids, and phenols, which on docking had highest binding capacity toward the antioxidant and antimicrobial receptors.

Keywords

• carbohydrates
• diphenyl‐1‐picryl‐hydrazyl
• gas column–mass spectroscopy
• proteins
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa
• Staphylococcus aureus