Evaluation of fodder legumes for nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications

Since the beginning of human cultivation, the role of plants in medicine has been of huge importance. The aim of this PhD Project is to investigate some forage plants belonging to the family of Fabaceae to gain knowledge concerning their possible use in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetics field. These plants have been chosen because they are characterized by great productive potential, but they are still under-exploited from the officinal and industrial point of view. They are also a potential source for the extraction of bioactive compounds with possible pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications (Rodrigues et al., 2013;Cornara et al., 2016), being generally rich in secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, amines, flavonoids, coumarins, condensed tannins and saponins (Burlando et al., 2010; Pastorino et al., 2017) To increase their use also in the industrial sector and, consequently, their commercial value, the study has focused on the identification of bioactive compounds with possible interest in human health. In this study a multidisciplinary approach was carried out, investigating several aspects such as antioxidant, antilipidemic and cytotoxicity strength, content of total phenols and flavonoids. In this PhD Project we studied four species of legumes: Melilotus officinalis (L.) Pall., Lespedeza capitata Michx., Sulla coronaria (L.) Medik and Glycyrrhiza glabra L. Thanks to a collaboration with Egadi S.r.l., Favignana, Italy, we also concentrated our study to another kind of plant, belonging to the family of Potamogetonaceae: Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile. The species has shown bioactivities suitable for the development of cosmetic and dermatologic applications. In summary, the results of these investigations show new opportunities to exploit the plants studied plants in bioindustry processes, possibly increasing their commercial value.