In Vitro Anticoccidial Activities of the Extract and Fractions of Garcinia kola (Heckel h.) against Eimeria tenella Oocyst

Background: Commercial poultry farming is expanding every day and contributing to the provision of affordable and high quality protein. However, this sector is confronted with many diseases of which coccidiosis is among the most important. There are many registered patents affirming the health benefits of Garcinia kola in poultry. Objective: Evaluation of In vitro anticoccidial activities of the extracts and fractions of Garcinia kola against Eimeria tenella oocyst was carried out. Method: Fresh seeds of G. kola were collected, dried under shade at room temperature and pulverized using a mortar and a pestle. The powder was exhaustively extracted with a soxhlet apparatus using 70% methanol and the crude methanol extract (CME) was concentrated to dryness using a rotary evaporator. The CME was further partitioned using butanol, ethylacetate and n-hexane. The CME, butanol fraction (BTF), ethylacetate fraction (EAF) and hexane fraction (HXF) were concentrated in vacuo and tested for the presence of phytochemical constituents using standard procedures. Similarly the CME, butanol, ethyl acetate and hexane fractions were evaluated in vitro for oocyst sporulation inhibition. Results: Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of cardiac glycosides, saponins, carbohydrates, steroids/triterpenes, tannins, flavonoids and alkaloids in the CME and BTF. The EAF contains all the metabolites mentioned except saponins. Similarly, HXF contains only cardiac glycosides, tannins and steroids/triterpenes. The CME and BTF caused a concentration dependent increase in the inhibition of sporulation of unsporulated oocysts of E. tenella. In the acute toxicity studies, the CME did not produce any toxic effect or mortality at doses between 10 and 5000 mg/kg. The CME was then considered safe and the LD50 was assumed to be >5000 mg/kg. Conclusion: The data obtained in this study suggest that the crude methanol extract (CME) of G. kola could be appreciable beneficial effect as an anticoccidial agent against Eimeria tenella oocyst.

Performance of broiler chickens administered graded levels of bitter kola (Garcinia kola, Heckel) as feed additive

A study of 28 days (4 weeks) was carried out at the Poultry Section of Rivers State University, Nkpolu-Oroworukwo, Port-Harcourt Rivers State-Nigeria, to determine the effect of bitter kola (Garcinia kola, Heckel) powder as a growth promoter in broiler chicken diets. One hundred and forty-four (144) unsexed one day-old Anak strain broiler chicks were subjected to various concentrated levels of bitter kola at T1 (control), T2 (5g/kg feed), T3 (10g/kg feed), T4 (15g/kg feed), respectively using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD), with 36 birds/treatment and 12 birds/replicate. The parameters evaluated were weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio and cost production. Data collected were subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results obtained indicated significant effect (P<0.05) in all the growth parameters evaluated. The mean total feed intake was 12.00kg, 11.85kg, 12.50kg and 11.55kg respectively for T1 , T2 , T3 and T4 . Mean total weight gain was highest in T4 (2.91kg) and least in T1 (2.57kg). On feed conversion ratio, T4 recorded the best with 3.97. It was 1 4 therefore advocated that bitter kola should be included in broiler diets as a feed additive to improve broiler chicken performance.