The ability to scavenge 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) (SigmaeAldrich, Saint Louis, USA) radical by PE was estimated by the method of Singh et al. (2002) with slight modifications. One tenth mL of the extract was reacted with 3.9 mL of DPPH solution in methanol. The sample solution was mixed and held in a water bath at 25 C for 20 min. The sample absorbance was measured at 515 nm. Three measurements were conducted for each liquid sample and the test was replicated three times