CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Plants are important in our everyday existence. They provide our foods, produce
the oxygen we breathe, and serve as raw materials for many industrial products such as
clothes, foot wears and so many others. Plants also provide raw materials for our
buildings and in the manufacture of biofuels, dyes, perfumes, pesticides, adsorbents and
drugs. The plant kingdom has proven to be the most useful in the treatment of diseases
and they provide an important source of all the world’s pharmaceuticals. The most
important of these bioactive constituents of plants are steroids, terpenoids, carotenoids,
flavanoids, alkaloids, tannins and glycosides. Plants in all facet of life have served a
valuable starting material for drug development (Ajibesin, 2011). Antibiotics or
antimicrobial substances like saponins, glycosides, flavonoids and alkaloids etc are found
to be distributed in plants, yet these compounds were not well established due to the lack
of knowledge and techniques. The phytoconstituents which are phenols, anthraquinones,
alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids and saponins are antibiotic principles of plants. Plants
are now occupying important position in allopathic medicine, herbal medicine,
homoeopathy and aromatherapy. Medicinal plants are the sources of many important
drugs of the modern world. Many of these indigenous medicinal plants are used as spices
and food plants; they are also sometimes added to foods meant for pregnant mothers for
medicinal purposes ( Akinpela and Onakoya, 2006). Many plants are cheaper and more
accessible to most people especially in the developing countries than orthodox medicine,
and there is lower incidence of adverse effects after use. These reasons might account for
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their worldwide attention and use. The medicinal properties of some plants have been
documented by some researchers ( Akinpelu and Onukoya, 2006). Medicinal plants are of
great importance to the health of individuals and communities. It was the advent of
antibiotics in the 1950s that led to the decline of the use of plant derivatives as
antimicrobials (Marjorie, 1999). Medicinal plants contain physiologically active
components which over the years have been exploited in the traditional medical practices
for the treatment of various ailments (Ajibesin, 2011). A relatively small percentage of
less than 10% of all the plants on earth is believed to serve as sources of medicine
(Marjorie, 1999).
In an effort to find alternative sources of feedstuffs to replace some or all of the
maize in the diet of pigs and other non-ruminant farm animals, several studies have been
conducted to determine the suitability of some agro-industrial wastes as feed ingredients.
These include cocoa pod husks, brewers spent grains, rice bran, maize bran, groundnut
skins, and wheat bran. However, one by-product that requires consideration is cashew nut
testa, a by-product obtained from the processing of cashew nuts. Its utilization as animal
feed even at relatively low dosage formulations will minimize its disposal problem as
well as reduce the cost of animal feeding.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
It is now known that agricultural materials are used as animal feeds and that they
contain phytochemicals. These phytochemicals serve as antibiotic principles of plants.
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The need for a cheap, renewable, easily available and nutritive source of material
as feed supplements has therefore attracted me to investigate African pear leaf, (APL) as
an alternative.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
Broadly stated, the purpose of this work is to investigate/assess the nutritive and
medicinal values of African pear leaf as an effective replacement in animal diets.
Specifically, this work investigated:
(i) the proximate constituents of African pear leaf; and
(ii) the qualitative and quantitative phytochemicals of African pear leaf.
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