Comparative study on the peroxidase activity from the floats of Caulerpa lentillifera (grapes seaweeds), roots of Tamarindus indica (tamarind), Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth) and Dracaena surculosa (spotted dracaena)

Peroxidase activities from four different varieties of plant roots were investigated through the use of UV-Vis spectrophotometer. Hydrogen peroxide was used as the substrate and phosphate buffer at a pH that have been determined to be the optimal pH for peroxidase activity for the specific sample type. The four plant root extracts showed an assay pH optimum of 7.5 for the Tamarindus indica (tamarind) and Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth), pH 5.5 for Dracaena surculosa (spotted dracaena) and pH 7.0 for Caulerpa lentillifera (grapes seaweeds) using Maehly and Chance method. Determination of peroxidase at 510 nm of the four extracts indicated that, spotted dracaena gave the highest peroxidase activity with 361.07 U ml-1, followed by tamarind with 57.11 U ml-1, then water hyacinth with 29.39 U m-1 and lastly, grapes seaweeds with 7.55 U ml-1. The specific peroxidase activities of the spotted dracaena, water hyacinth, tamarind and grapes seaweeds are 0.3224, 0.2048, 0.0721 and 0.0341 U mg-1 respectively. The peroxidase of the four plant tissues that were kept at ultra low personal freezer for almost a week was degraded. (Authors)