Bio-prospective studies on medicinal plants used to manage poultry diseases in the Mount Elgon region of Uganda

The need to utilise drugs and pesticides from local plants is increasingly becoming more important, not only because of the high cost of imported chemicals and drugs, but the availability of these imported drugs has become erratic as their importation has to compete for the meagre foreign exchange with other vital imports required for industrial and social development. In the mount Elgon region of Uganda, plants are often used for treatment of poultry infections. The most highly ranked were: Kedrostis foetidisma (Namusisi), Tithonia diversifolia (Nabululu), Cannabis sativa(Nzaye), Jatropha carcus(Lisanda), Capsicum frutescens (Pilipili), Aloe sp. (Kukatyakatya), Kigelia africana (Kifungu), Albizia coriaria(Kiluku) and Oxygonum simatum (Namakumba). Six methanol extracts showed antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus:Erythrina abysinicca, Tephrosia vogelii; Threehad activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Cannabis sativa, Stephania abysinica, Albizia conari and 12 had activity against Bacillus subtilis: Cannabis sativa, Capsicum frutescens, Lantana camara, Jatropha carcus, Stephania abysinnica, Dracenea steudneri, Albizia conaria, Tephrosia vogelii, Aloe sp., Erythrina abysinicca, Oxygonum sinuatum, Azadirachta indica; four methanol extracts had activity against E. coli: Oxygonum sinuatum, Stephania abysinnica, Albizia conaria, Tephrosia vogelii; 7 plants (methanol extracts) had no demonstrable antibacterial activity: Mormodica foetida, Vernonia amygdalina, Cassia occidentalis, Ficus asperifolia, Spilanthes mauritiana, Agave sisalana, Cornyza sumatrensis. Two plant extracts (methanol)were considered to have broad spectrumactivity: Stephania abyssinica, Albizia coraria. Of the petroleum etherextractsonly one plant showed activity against Staphylococcus aureus: Erythrina abysinicca. One plant also had activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Draceania steudner. For Bacillus subtilis 14 plants had activity: Capsicum frutescens, Ficus asperlifolia, Spilanthes mauritiana, Cassia occidentalis, Melia azaderach, Erythrina abysinica, Agave sisalana, Azadirachta indica Aloe sp. Kigelia africana Kedrosis foetidisma Tithonia diversifolia Aloe spp, Oxygonum sinuatum; Only one plant(Oxygonum sinuatum) had activity against E. coli. Eight of the plants (pet�ether extracts) had no demonstrable antibacterial activity: Cornyza sumatrensis, Moringa oleifera, Kigelia africana, Albizia conaria, Jatropha carcus, Lantana camara, Verninia amygdalina, Mormodica foetida. Erythrina abysinicca (pet-ether extracts) had a broad spectrum of activity.