Abstract

GENETIC ANALYSIS OF DRUG-RESISTANT POULTRY BACTERIA AND TOXICITY EVALUATION OF OCIMUM GRATISSIMUM METHANOL EXTRACT AS A POTENTIAL ANTIMICROBIAL AGENT

Inimfon Akaninyene Ibanga**, Ubong Samuel Ekong, Otobong Donald Akan*,
Uduak Akpabio, Nsikan Samuel Udoekong, Edidiong Jumbo Udofa

ABSTRACT

The high prevalence and rising incidence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in poultry chickens pose a public health risk. This necessitates plant-based antimicrobial compounds with strong therapeutic potential and no side effects associated with synthetic drugs. Ocimum gratissimum (Scent leaf) exhibits antimicrobial activity against pathogenic Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial strains. The selected bacterial isolates in this study were characterized by molecular methods using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. This study also investigated the acute toxicity profile and in vivo protective efficacy of the methanol extract of Ocimum gratissimum leaf against selected multidrug-resistant bacterial isolates obtained from poultry chickens. Molecular identification revealed that the selected poultry isolates included Salmonella enterica strain BC01, Escherichia coli strain g15, S. flexneri strain SWHIN_107, M. morganii subsp. Sibonii strain O60, Klebsiella pneumoniae strain PL1-RCS238, Enterobacter aerogenes strain KNUC5001, Proteus mirabilis strain AYQ-1 16S, Proteus mirabilis strain M16, Serratia marcescens strain A02, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain PPA43. Phylogenetic analysis of the obtained gene sequences revealed a very high level of evolutionary similarity between the isolates obtained in this study and those deposited in the NCBI database. The acute toxicity assay of the methanol extract of Ocimum gratissimum was found to be 2236.07 mg/kg, while the mouse protection test revealed a strong protective effect, with all test isolates showing 100 % survival over a 5-day period. In conclusion, the in vivo effectiveness of Ocimum gratissimum extracts against MDR bacteria presents a viable path toward the creation of new treatment options for bacterial infections.

Keywords: Ocimum gratissimum, acute toxicity, phylogenetic analysis, poultry-chickens.