DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2014.v02i06.067

Pages: 3185-3192

Recent findings have incriminated the use of antibiotics in poultry feeds to be associated with emergence of resistance among bacteria. The use of traditional plants remedies has not been found to be associated with resistance. This work determined the inhibitory effects of extracts of Vernonia amygdalina used in traditional poultry farming against Salmonella sp, Escherichia coli, Proteus sp, Pseudomonas sp and Staphylococcus aureus isolated from poultry droppings. The method of maceration was adopted to extract the plant materials with methanol (70%) and sterile water as solvents for the extraction. About one gram of each sample (poultry dropping) was diluted in selenite F broth and another one gram each was inoculated directly onto Salmonella-shigella agar, blue green agar, McConkey agar, manitol salt agar and eosin methylene blue agar (EMB). After an overnight incubation at 37oC for 24hrs plates were read. Typical colonies were grams Stained using Standard procedures, consequent upon that, the isolated organisms were subjected to biochemical test. The only Gram positive organism isolated was further confirmed to be S. aureus by catalase and coagulase tests. Bioassay of the isolates was conducted and further Subjected to the plant extract, using agar well diffusion method and conventional antibiotics using disc diffusion (Kirby bouer). Findings shows significant effect of the plant extract on the isolated bacteria and also indicated that it can serve as an alternative to conventional antibiotics as used in traditional poultry production in Nigeria. In addition, small scale farmers can utilize this plant extract for sustainable poultry production. This practice can also go a long way in minimizing Emergence of resistance strains of bacteria in human diseases since drugs derived from plants are safe and dependable, compared to synthetic drugs.