Sarfaraz Khan Marwat¹ , Fazal ur  Rehman² , Asghar Ali  Khan¹

1. Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan
2. Faculty of Pharmacy Gomal University Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Horticulture, 2016, Vol. 6, No. 16   doi: 10.5376/ijh.2016.06.0016
Received: 09 May, 2016    Accepted: 20 Jun., 2016    Published: 10 Aug., 2016

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Marwat S.K., Rehman F., and Khan A.A., 2016, Phytochemistry and pharmacological values of rocket (Eruca sativa Miller) -- A review, International Journal of Horticulture, 6(21): 1-7 (doi: 10.5376/ijh.2016.06.0016)

Rocket (Eruca sativa Miller) is an annual herbaceous oilseed plant of family Brassicaceae. Its phytochemistry and pharmacological values have been reviewed in the present paper. The reported phytochemical studies conducted on various parts of E. sativa plant revealed the presence of flavonoid compounds, alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, phenolics, saponins and tannins ascorbic acid, essential oil. The essential oil contains volatile components as well as a great amount of sulfur- and nitrogen-possessing compounds. The rocket plant is high in erucic acid. The rocket oil also has glucosinolate methylsulphinylbutyl isothiocyanate which induce enzymes activity. It is generally used as a food, in which the leaves are eaten as part of salads. Medicinally it is used for increasing fertility and sperm production, eye infection (antibacterial). It is also helpful in digestive process and kidney activities. E. sativa is mainly responsible for different biological and pharmacological activities such as: antimicrobial, antibacterial, anti-fungal, antitumour, analgesic, antioxidant, antidiabetic, antidiarrhoeal, anti-inflammatory, anti-giardial activity etc. Although plenty of compounds were isolated from this plant, but further bioactivities have not been widely investigated yet. And further efforts concerning therapeutic significance are necessary (to investigate formulas) for the improvement of human health.

Eruca sativa; Rocket; Phenolics compounds; Biological potential