Proximate Analysis and Toxicological Studies of Polyalthia longifolia Seed Flour in Dietary Formulation of Albino Rats

Aim: A short term toxicological study of Polyalthia longifolia seed flour in dietary formulation of albino rats was conducted and investigated in order to determine its suitability as an additive in feed supplement and formulation.

Methodology: The effect of the dietary formulation on the physical appearance, feed intake and weight gain of the rats was determined. The proximate analysis, mineral composition, haematological and blood biochemistry were determined and calculated using standard methods of analysis.

Results: The proximate analysis revealed that the seed flour has high carbohydrate and moderate protein contents. The values of 59.66±0.19% for carbohydrate, 12.40±0.25% for protein, 11.90±0.04% for crude fiber, 90.80% for dry matter were obtained for P. longifolia seed flour. The seed flour was found to contain high concentration of iron, manganese, zinc, copper and potassium. Other mineral present such as magnesium, calcium and sodium were very low. Nickel, chromium and lead were not present. The low Na/K ratio (0.03) obtained showed that the seed flour could probably reduce high blood pressure. Proximate composition of the compounded feed both for the control and the test groups pointed out that there were significance differences in crude protein and crude fibre contents of the feeds compounded. Weekly monitoring of the rats showed good physical appearance and steady weight gain with no mortality recorded during the period of the experiment. The average weight gain per rat at the end of the experiment was shown to be 86.58 g for control rats and 90.00 g for test ones.

Conclusion: Haematological analysis of the rats in both groups showed that they were not anemic and there was no significant difference at p≤0.05 in their blood biochemistry. There was no lesion found in the sections of the kidney, liver and heart of the rats. P. longifolia seed flour seemed to be a good supplement in livestock feed formulation.