SECONDARY METABOLITES FROM PLANTS: A GROWING BENEFIT FOR LIVESTOCK

Abstract

Plants are being used for their therapeutic potential throughout history. This use has mostly concentrated on
human health, but in ethnoveterinary practice and animal health management, plants have also been, and have
always been, employed. The use of synthetic chemicals is becoming widespread in recent times. Public
knowledge of the possible risks to the environment and health associated with heavy chemical use has also
increased incredibly. This has placed pressure on regulatory bodies to reduce the agricultural use of chemicals.
The most striking example is the European Union's 2006 ban on antibiotics for animal feed. Moves like this
have accelerated the push to find alternatives to synthetic chemicals, and research has once again turned to the
use of secondary metabolites from plants (SMP) as a way of enhancing animal health. Recent studies propose
that there is major potential in the use of these SMP to enhance livestock health especially that of ruminants
(sheep, cow, deer, etc) in particular. Some of these SMP include polyphenols, saponin, and tannin, which help
in improving meat quality, milk and foam production, bloat control, reproductive efficiency, and methane
production. Microbial and nematode control are also a major area of research and the evidence indicates that a
much wider variety of SMP. This brief review gives a summary of SMP's importance of animal health and
production.