Keywords
Antibacterial
Antioxidant
Phyllanthus amarus
Phytochemical
How to Cite
Abstract
Negative impact of antibiotics and synthetic antioxidants to livestock production including poultry are rising. Therefore, the current shift to phytobiotics as alternative that can improve the productivity and quality of commercial animals by enhancing feed property and performance. However, the use of phytobiotics in our environment is limited due to scarce research outputs. This study evaluates the nutrient quality, phytochemical constituents and phytobiotic (antimicrobial and antioxidant) properties of Phyllanthus amarus, a non-toxic medicinal herb, using standard procedures and documented methods. The results revealed that Phyllanthus amarus contains high quality nutrients and rich medicinal phytochemicals in both essential oil and methanol extract which demonstrated significant (p < 0.05) antibacterial activity with selectable characteristics against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella Enteritidis from poultry isolates. The plant’s samples (both extracts) also inhibited the growth of Eimeria tenella, a protozoan that causes coccidiosis in chickens. Furthermore, two of the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry identified compounds 6-methoxy-4-methyl-5-((5-[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenol]plenty)oxy)-8-quinolinylamine and glyoxalbis (2,4-dinitrophenyl-hydrazone) were respectively identified to have high docking interactions with bacterial ATP synthetase and OxyR protein complex, involved in bacterial protein synthesis and oxidative stress defense. In addition, these compounds inhibited Keap1 complex which induces oxidative stress in chickens. Thus, 6-methoxy-4-methyl-5-((5-[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenol]plenty)oxy)-8-quinolinylamine and glyoxalbis (2,4-dinitrophenyl-hydrazone) could be optimized and studied as hits for discovery of phytobiotics with antibacterial and antioxidants properties for use in livestock, especially poultry.
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