New Dimension of Medicinal Plants as Animal Feed

The medicinal plants and herbs have been used for many years in the treatment of various diseases in animals and human beings. Now-a-days, utilization of these medicinal plants is increasing. These are used in animal feed as the growth promoters. Due to prohibition of most of the antimicrobial growth promoters in animal feed because of their residual effects, plant extracts are becoming more popular. They act as antibacterial, antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antifungal, analgesic, insecticidal, anticoccidial and growth promoters. These plant extracts compete with the synthetic drugs. Majority of medicinal plants do not have the residual effects. Azadiracht indica, Zizyphus vulgaris, Ocimum gratissimum and Atlanta monophylla have the strong antibacterial activity, whereas ocimum plant has strong antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antifungal, analgesic and antipyretic properties. Leaves of Azadirachta indica are used for feeding and reducing the parasitic load of animals. The fruit of Azadirachta indica also has the anticoccidial activity for poultry.