Potency of selected herbs on inhibition of ammonia producing bacteria

Abstract

In effort to combat environmental pollution, improve animal production and avoid drug residue, producers have resorted to the use of phytobiotics to inhibit ammonia producing microbes in the gut. Freshly harvested Azadirachta indica, Carica papaya, Saccharum officinarum, Chromolaena odorata, Eucalyptus camadulensis and Mangifera indica leaves were air dried, blended and extracted using five concentrations of solvent (100% water, 70% water + 30% methanol, 50% water + 50% methanol, 30% water + 70% methanol and 100% methanol). The antibacterial activities of the extracts and antibiotics (doxycycline) as control, were tested according to standard procedures against both gram positive (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus) and gram negative (Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae) ammonia producing bacteria. In most cases, it was observed that the inhibitory effect of methanolic extracts of Azadirachta indica, Carica papaya, Saccharum officinarum, Chromolaena odorata, Eucalyptus camadulensis and Mangifera indica leaves were not significantly different from that of synthetic antibiotics, doxycycline, when tested against the test bacteria, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Vibrio cholera. However, leave extracts showed significantly better inhibitory effect on Escherichia coli than the antibiotic drug. It can be concluded, therefore, that the leaf extracts of Azadirachta indica, Carica papaya, Saccharum officinarum, Chromolaena odorata, Eucalyptus camadulensis and Mangifera indica can serve as alternative to synthetic drugs in animal production due to their effective actions against microbial organisms.