Estimation of total soluble sugars: For total soluble sugars, one gm of leaf was homogenized in 4 ml of 05 N of sodium hydroxide and grand in a mortar with a pestle and then centrifuged at 3,500 rpm for 20 min at 4pC The pellet was discarded and the supernatant was neutralized with O 5 N acetic acid The resulting solution was made up to 40 mL and was stored at 4 C until use. These extracts were then used for the determination of total soluble sugars according to the phenol-sulphuric method by Dubois et al U956) One milliliter of the leaf extract was placed in a test tube and 1 mL of Phenol[5% wtvl was added followed by 5 mL of concentrate Sulphuric acid und the contents were mixed and left at room temperature for 10 min. Spectrophotometers reading were taken at 490 nm absorbance The sugar concentration was obtained by referring to the standard glucose graph The assay for this tandard glucose graph was carried out by adding phenol and sulphuric acid to a standard glucose solution with concentrations varying between o 100 mL i Total soluble sugars was expressed in mg/100 g leaf fresh weight