Archives of Current Research International

The production of active chemicals in plants is greatly influenced by their cultivation technique. In this study, we performed a direct comparison of the chemical profiles in leaves of Justicia adhatoda L. grown through hydroponics with those cultivated in conventional soil cultivation. To the best of our knowledge, no previous research has compared the phytochemical profile across these cultivation methods for this plant. A study was carried out utilising GC-MS and HPTLC to detect unique phytochemicals in leaf extracts. Plants grown in hydroponic systems showed elevated lipid antioxidants, with squalene recorded at 39.2% and α-tocopherol at 3.4% dominating, whereas these compounds were nearly undetectable in soil-grown plants. Conversely, leaves from plants cultivated in soil contained greater quantities of long-chain alkanes such as hexatriacontane at 90.8% and hentriacontane at 51.4%, highlighting the differing metabolic priorities stated by the cultivation method. In the hydroponic extracts, distinct patterns were observed in the HPTLC analysis, which revealed prominent bands at Rf 0.08, 0.28, 0.42, and 0.74 after derivatisation. This variation indicates an increased accumulation of important antioxidant compounds within a hydroponic culture system, while simultaneously reducing the potential risks related to contaminants or structural fats. These results suggest that hydroponics serves as a reliable method for growing Justicia adhatoda L, yielding consistent, high-quality phytochemical profiles suitable for therapeutic uses.