African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (6), pp. 513-516, June 2005          
ISSN 1684–5315 © 2005 Academic Journals

Short Communication

Bioactive metabolites in improved cowpea seeds

AMEEN, O. M.¹*, FATOPE, O. M.², USMAN, L. A.¹ and ADEBAYO, S. A.¹

¹Department of Chemistry, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.

²Chemistry Department, College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University, Al-Khod Oman.

*Corresponding Author E-mail: aommohd@yahoo.com.

Accepted February, 2005

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has developed some pest and disease resistant cowpeas. From these the seeds of 8 cowpea cultivars were extracted with ethanol, and partitioned into chloroform and water-soluble fractions, the water-soluble fraction was further extracted with ethyl acetate. Residues from ethanol, chloroform and ethyl acetate soluble fractions for each of the 8 cowpea cultivars were screened against brine shrimp larvae. The seed extracts of cowpea cultivars IT93K – 596 – 9 – 12, IT90K – 277 – 2 and IT93K – 452 – 1 were found to be most active, indicating that they contain cytotoxic compound(s).

Key words: Cowpea, bioactive compund, biotechnology, brine shrimp larvae, cytotoxicity.