COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF Moringa oleifera, Cola nitida AND Chromolaena odorata LEAVES AGAINST ENTERIC ORGANISMS FROM POULTRY DROPPINGS

The outbreak of several deadly diseases that cause economic loss and discourage poultry keeping is a major challenge to poultry farming. The rising antimicrobial resistance has led to a renewed interest in medicinal plants as sources of novel antimicrobial agents. The main goal of this research was to isolate and identify different enteric bacteria and to evaluate through a comparative study, the antimicrobial activity of Moringa oleifera seeds, Moringa oleifera leaves, Cola nitida and Chromolaena odorata leaves, against the enteric organisms isolated from chicken droppings obtained from different poultry farms in Awka Metropolis. The research study was carried out, using Chicken dropping samples collected from different poultry houses using sterile swab sticks. These poultry droppings were analyzed using standard microbiological protocols. The enteric bacteria in the samples were isolated, identified and characterized biochemically using commercial reagents for biochemical tests, following the standard manufacturer’s protocol. The presumptive enteric organisms isolated were. Escherichia coli, Klebsiella sp, Salmonella sp, Shigella sp, Enterobacter sp and Proteus sp. These organisms showed the highest percentage occurrence with 23% as Escherichia coli, while Shigella sp had the lowest occurrence of 9%. The ethanol and aqueous extracts were assessed for antimicrobial activity using agar well diffusion method. All extracts exhibited variable antibacterial activity against the test organisms depending on extract type and bacterial isolate. However, the highest spectrum of activity was indicated by Chromolaena odorata leaves, with a high antimicrobial activity against Shigella sp and Escherichla coli (21mm & l5mm) respectively. The results obtained from this research shows the effectiveness of the use of these plants as very efficient sources of antimicrobials, hence its potential in the reduction of infections from microbial pathogens and disease prevention in poultry.