Phytochemical Screening, FT-IR and GC-MS Analysis of Extracts from Aloe Aculeata Pole-Evans Leaves used for Managing Poultry Health in Drylands of Zimbabwe

Due to limited veterinary facilities, farmers in remote areas of Zimbabwe rely heavily on herbal ethnoveterinary medicines as a feasible alternative to conventional veterinary operations. Medicinal plants may be the best prospects for developing drugs to treat animal health problems. The medicinal properties of medicinal plants are attributable to the existence of diverse bioactive compounds with varying compositions that arise as secondary metabolites. According to research conducted in the drylands of Zimbabwe's Masvingo province, Aloe aculeata was the most commonly utilized Aloe species for managing poultry health. However, the scientific basis for the curative properties of Aloe aculeata had not yet been established. As a result, this study was done to address the aforementioned knowledge gap with the objective of performing a preliminary investigation of potential phytochemicals and to identify and characterize potential phytochemicals using FT-IR analysis and the GC-MS technique. Tannins, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and phlobatannins tests gave positive results across extracts from shade-dried and fresh leaves from all three solvents (hexane, distilled water, ethanol). Flavonoids had the highest concentration in the leaf samples (5.6%), followed by alkaloids (3.2%) and saponins (3.15%). FT-IR analysis confirmed the presence of phenols, amines, aromatics, alkynes, alkenes, and quinones due to the functional groups that were detected. GC-MS analysis showed the presence of 32 compounds, and 17 have reported pharmacological activity. The high number of phytochemicals and compounds with pharmaceutical value justifies the use of Aloe aculeata in managing poultry diseases. The findings of the present study offer the ethnomedical use of this plant for the development of herbal drugs for the management of poultry health.