1 Introduction

Indian mulberry or Noni (Morinda citrifolia L.; Rubiaceae) is a native of Andaman and Nicobar Islands (India), Indonesia and adjoining Indo-Pacific region (Singh et al., 2010; McClatchey, 2002). The genus Morinda has more than 160 species mostly distributed all across the tropical island regions (Razafimandimbison et al., 2009). The M. citrifolia has been identified as an important species with wide range of health and commercial uses (Singh et al., 2010; Singh et al., 2011a). Its health benefits can be viewed from the fact that since 1976, about 19 patents have been registered by the US Patent and Trademark Office in United States of America (USPTO, 2005) and Noni juice has been accepted in the European Union as a novel food (European Commission Scientific Committee of Food, 2005). Even though, price of Noni based products in Indian markets is still high but they got significant reach in rich and upper middle class of public due to health benefiting perceptions. Around 200 phyotochemicals were reported in M. citrifolia which includes phenolics, carotenoids, polysaccharides, flavonoids, iridoids, fatty acids, scopoletin, catechin, β-sitosterol, damnacanthal and alkaloids which contribute in good health of the body (Singh et al., 2010). In fact mixture of compounds in plant extract are more effective than single isolated compound for health benefits (Rasoanaivo et al., 2011) hence, knowledge of plant species or genotypes rich in major groups of compounds could be of more use in herbal industry.