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Nutritive assessment of four local herbal plants as animal feed supplements

Hamzah, S.F,¹*, Alimon, A.R,² and Yaakub, H.³

Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia

Malaysian J. Anim. Sci. 2017 20(2): 47-59

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Many local herbal plants are generally rich in secondary metabolites and contain high amount of essential nutrients.. A study was conducted to evaluate the antioxidant content and antimicrobial activities of 4 selected herbal plants: Andrographis paniculata (Hempedu Bumi), Orthosiphon stamineus (Misai Kucing), Euphorbia hirta (Ara Tanah) and Boreria latifolia (Boreria) that are widely available in Malaysia. Proximate analysis, phyto-chemical determination and in vitro technique were used to evaluate nutritive value of the herbal plants. Fatty acid profile and 2,2diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DDPH) free radical scavenging activity were also explored. A. paniculata had the highest content of crude protein (18.13�0.18%), calcium (11.92�1.66%), saponin (18.73�1.13%) and flavonoids (1.25�0.21%). while, E. hirta contained highest tannin (0.24�0.007%), phenol (0.02�0.004%) and antioxidant content (9.22�0.02%). For antimicrobial activity, E. hirta, A. paniculata and O. stamineus methanol extracts at 500 mg/ml  concentration showed moderate antimicrobial activities. The methanol extracts of all herbal plants exhibited stronger antimicrobial activities against the test pathogens compared to the herbal water extracts.  Among the 4 local herbal plants examined, A. paniculata contained the lowest total saturated fatty acids (26.53�0.19 g/100g FAME) and highest unsaturated fatty acids (73.47�0.19 g/100g FAME) and E. hirta had the highest total gas production (49.10�8.97 ml), rate of gas production (2.05�0.37 ml/h). All herbal plants  studied have their own potential as animal feed supplements.