The chemical profiling, characterization of Aloe products and phytochemical properties of Aloe vera were studied. The adulteration of commercial products derived from medicinal plants has been a major muddle for both the society and the pharmaceuticalindustry. Economically motivated adulteration includes the potential for contaminated, sub‐potent or counterfeit medication to enter the supply chain at several levels, from the production of raw ingredients through to the point of retail sale. Darwin’s theory of evolution states that, species undergo genetic variation with time to adapt to environmental changes. Therefore, the same species growing in widely different habitats may drift from the original genetic makeup as a mechanism of adaptation and that may result in them having different chemical profiles. Therefore this study aimed at investigating the phytochemical properties of Aloe vera growing in South Africa. Also, this study aims to utilize Thin Layer Chromatography to profile this plant, as well as use Infra Red spectroscopy to characterize commercial Aloe vera products. A large quantity of Aloe vera plant was collected from AloeWay, Iphofolo Game Farm, Polokwane in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The identity of the plant was confirmedrom literature and authenticated by Professor DS Grierson of Botany Department, University of Fort Hare, Alice. The plant leaves were divided into two portions. One portion was extracted fresh while the other was cut into pieces and oven dried at 400C then and milled to a homogenous powder once dried completely. The phytochemical composition of the gel and leaf extracts revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins and phenols at different concentrations. Results showed that the dry plant material yielded more phytochemicals than the fresh plant material. In particular, it was found that the acetone extract showed much more amounts ofphychemicals than the dichloromethane and aqueous extracts. The percentage compositions of phenols (71.86), flavonols (36.61), proanthocyanidins (82.71), saponins (37.73) and alkaloids (13.29) were significantly high in the acetone extract, followed by the dichloromthane extract with values of 46.85, 37.73, 49.51, 89.0 and 11.11 respectively, while the least composition was found in the aqueous extract. Furthermore, flavonoids were somewhat high in composition in both the aqueous extract of the dried and of the fresh plant material while others were very low. Tannins levels were significantly very low in all the solvent extracts. It was found that the acetone extract showed great amounts of phytochemicals than dichloromethane and aqueous extracts. Since A. vera is used in the treatment of different ailments such as skin wounds and abrasions, eczema, constipation, rheumatoid arthritis etc, the medicinal uses of this plant could be associated to such analysed bioactive compounds. Acetone, hexane, ethanol, water and dichloromethane were used to extract the Aloe vera leaf and the best solvent extract was determined. Thin layer chromatography was used to profile the leaf extracts with the aim of documenting the main phytochemicals present in the Aloe vera growing in South Africa. The best spraying reagent was determined. Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer was used to validate the presence of Aloe vera ingredients in commercial products. The yield extraction ability of the solvent was the order: water>ethanol> hexane >dichloromethane and acetone for the dry portion. However, for the plant extracted fresh, the order of yield produced was ethanol-acetone-dichloromethane > and water. The different solvent systems separated the compounds differently. Hexane: acetone: ethanol (20 : 5: 2) and Benzene: ethanol: ammonium (80): ethanol (10): ammonium solvent systems were noted to be the best mobile phase as they gave the best separation compared to other systems.EMW [ethyl acetate (81): methanol (11): water (8)] showed better separation than the other two separating solvent systems. Vanillin- sulphuric acid spray was seen to be the best spraying reagent as compared to vanillin- phosphoric acid. Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer validated the presence aloe ingredients in aloe vera commercial products.

Eucalyptus macarthurii is one of the cold tolerant eucalypt species grown in South Africa for pulp and paper. However, little research has been done on this species’ growth performance. A study was therefore initiated to: i) analyse growth characteristics of Eucalyptus macarthurii at two sites and to calculate genetic parameters (genetic and phenotypic correlations, heritabilities and genetic gains), ii) develop a non-destructive near infrared calibration model to predict whole tree pulp yield of Eucalyptus macarthurii, and iii) screen a second generation Eucalyptus macarthurii breeding population, using the developed near infrared calibration model on core samples, to predict screened pulp yield and to rank and identify families with superior pulping properties. Eucalyptus macarthurii population growth data (diameter under bark, diameter over bark, bark thickness, bark stripping, height, basic wood density and stem form) were measured at Pinewoods and Vlakkloof sites and their respective genetic parameters calculated. Genotype by environment interaction was found in this population, indicating that different populations should perhaps be developed independently of each other for the two sites. Genetic and phenotypic correlations between diameter over bark and diameter under bark were, 0.96 and 0.98 for Pinewoods and 0.98 and 0.99 for Vlakkloof, respectively. These correlations indicated that selection of diameter over bark would lead to a positive indirect selection for diameter under bark. The heritability estimates also ranged from 0.03 to 0.23 at both sites, which indicated a reasonable response to selection. The predicted gains for all traits found at Pinewoods were higher than those at Vlakkloof for progeny trials E76/P1, except height for progeny trial E76/P2, which was 2.09m at Pinewoods site and 3.52m at Vlakkloof site which showed that, selection for taller trees will be more effective at Vlakkloof site. A preliminary study was undertaken from eleven second generation trees (2007 tree collection) to investigate if the radial strip core taken at breast height predicts the whole tree wood properties. Correlations found between laboratory Kraft pulping of whole tree wood discs and whole tree NIR spectra with that of the radial strip core NIR spectra were 0.9472 and 0.9506, respectively. These results confirmed that NIR spectra of the radial strip core at breast height predict the whole tree wood properties. A non-destructive near infrared calibration model using wood samples was obtained from Eucalyptus macarthurii felled trees. The wood samples were chipped into wood chips, pulped using Kraft pulping (reference method) and a sub-sample of wood chips of the same trees were ground into sawdust samples and analysed through near infrared spectroscopy for screened pulp yield. The screened pulp yield values obtained from both processes had a narrow screened pulp yield range of 40 to 48%. The Eucalyptus macarthurii screened pulp yield values obtained from both processes, as well as from values obtained from other eucalypt species, were subjected to Vision® Software for calibration and validation of the near infrared calibration model. The results indicated a strong calibration correlation coefficient of 94%, between Kraft pulping and near infrared spectroscopy with a validation coefficient of 89%. The strong correlation and validation coefficient indicated that a reliable non-destructive near infrared model to predict screened pulp yield was successfully developed. The successful development of the valid calibration model required a wider range of other eucalypts species, which improved the development of the model. The developed calibration model was applied to the second generation breeding population planted in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga provinces, using wood core samples obtained from standing trees for the prediction of screened pulp yield. The highest screened pulp yield achieved was 48%, which compared well to that found for Kraft pulping, which confirmed the success of the development of the calibration model. There was a wide scope of growth variation found amongst traits, which will be useful in selecting superior trees for the next generation. The development of the nondestructive near infrared calibration model was a success due to the strong correlation coefficients found between the screened pulp yields obtained from Kraft pulping and near infrared spectroscopy processes, which was achieved by the inclusion of other eucalypt species in the dataset. The calibration model can be used to select the top performing individual and family trees for the next generation based on screened pulp yield. Tree improvement trials can now be conserved for further breeding, without felling the trees for determination of pulping properties. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.