Effect of gamma-irradiation processing on microbial decontamination, bioactive shatavarin IV constituent and shelf life of shatavari (Asparagus racemosus) marketed formulations

Abstract Shatavari (Asparagus racemosus) is a traditional Ayurvedic herb. The roots of this plant are used medicinally as a potent tonic for women with stress-induced and immune-mediated infertility. In present study, Shatavari marketed formulations as powder (MF-1), and tablets (MF-2) were subjected to gamma-irradiation. The samples irradiated with different doses viz. 1.0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 10 kGy along with non-irradiated as control were stored at ambient temperature. These samples were evaluated for the microbial load as total aerobic microbial count (TAMC), total yeast and mould count (TYMC); and for phytochemical analysis of bioactive shatavarin IV using HPLC at different time intervals as 0, 1, 3, 6, 9, 12 months. The TAMC showed that the microbial decontamination in irradiated samples reduced significantly over a storage period, indicating irradiation treatment helpful in reduction of microbial growth. The TYMC did not reveal any presence of yeast and mould growth throughout the analysis. Further, the HPLC analysis of the bioactive component shatavarin IV in treated and control samples at different time intervals showed negligible content difference and statistically found non-significant (P > 0.05), indicating irradiation does not have any deleterious effect on shatavarin IV constituent. The findings of our work confirmed that the gamma-irradiation at a dose of 5–10 kGy is sufficient to control microbial contamination in the selected shatavari marketed formulations and extending their shelf life up to one year without affecting the content of bioactive constituent shatavarin IV.