THE EVALUATION OF THE ANTICOCCIDIAL PROPERTIES OF AQUEOUS LEAF EXTRACT OF Moringa Oleifera

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of the aqueous leaf extract of Moringa oleifera extract on Coccidiosis of chicken. Two hundred and forty (240) broiler birds were experimentally infected with Eimeria tenella and treated with the aqueous leaf extract of M. oleifera at different concentrations (50mg/ml, 100mg/ml, 200mg/ml and 0%). The birds were divided into four groups T₁, T₂, T₃ and T₄ with three replicates in each group. T₁, T₂, T₃ and T₄ had percentage mortality rate of 16.7%, 8.3%, 5.0% and 91.7%, respectively. Duncan count was carried out at the end of the experiment for the scoring of haemorrhagic lesions. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that there is a significant difference (p>0.005) between the different levels of inclusion of aqueous leave extract of M. oleifera as was shown in the lesion score. From the study, it is suggested that M. oleifera has great potentials in being used to control coccidiosis in birds given that T₃ had the lowest mortality rate while T₄ (control) had the highest mortality rate. Vitamin and mineral element analysis showed that M. oleifera contains vitamins A, B₁, B₂, B₃, E and C. The minerals M. oleifera contains include calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and zinc. The phytochemical analysis and thin layer chromatography of the powdered leaf of M. oleifera revealed the presence of alkaloids, yohimbin; tannins, catechin and epicatechin; saponins, _β-hederin; glycosides, kaempferol and quercetin; flavonoids, chlorogenic acid, hyperoside, rutosid, rahmnetin and isorahmnetin and terpenoids, oleanoic acid and _β-sitosterol, which have all been shown to have retrogressive effect on microorganisms.