Study points to medicinal plants as potential feed additives

The plants have anti-inflammatory properties that could be used to minimize the impacts of stress on animals, researcher says.

Several plant species with known medicinal uses could hold promise as future feed additives, according to research from South Africa’s University of Pretoria.

A research group at the university has been focused in recent years on investigating the antimicrobial and anti-parasitic activity of plant extracts, said Lyndy McGaw, a professor of veterinary medicine who leads the phytomedicine program at the University of Pretoria. More recently, they decided to study the anti-inflammatory effects of plants with suspected medicinal properties, she said.

“Feed additives that reduce inflammation may enhance productivity and nutrient utilization as well as minimizing chronic stress associated with systemic inflammation,” McGaw said.

Reducing inflammation can also play a role in treating various diseases, she said, and chronic inflammation can lead to major health issues in humans and animals. But many of the synthetic anti-inflammatory remedies on the market today come with unwanted side effects, so there is a need for new anti-inflammatory remedies with fewer side effects, she said.

The study evaluated the effects of plant extracts and pure compounds on enzymes such as cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase that are associated with inflammation. They also considered the plants’ effect on the release of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines within cell cultures.

Two plant species from the study seem particularly promising, McGaw said. Senna singueana, a large shrubby bush that is popular in African traditional medicine, was very effective against lipoxygenase, an enzyme implicated in the inflammation process, she said. It also proved an effective antibacterial agent against common poultry pathogens.

Morinda lucida, or brimstone tree, also demonstrated excellent antibacterial and antibiofilm activity against a range of poultry pathogens in addition to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, McGaw said.

These plants aren’t produced at scale, so commercial cultivation would need to be established before either could be used extensively as feed additives, McGaw said. The university also needs to conduct more extensive animal trials to test for additional factors, such as how the plants break down in the gastrointestinal tract, that could influence the plants’ performance. Preliminary studies in chickens have shown promising results, McGaw said, and so her group would like to continue this line of research pending additional funding.

Source: wattagnet.com