Moringa Oleifera – “The Miracle Tree”
Apeksha Ukey1, Prashant Gujjalkar2, Priyanka Kittur1
Animal Physiology Division
1Ph.D Scholar ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132001
2 M.V.Sc ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132001
Corresponding author: apekshaukey11@gmail.com
Moringa is a very useful tree that has been used by humans for centuries as food and medicine. The botanical name is Moringa Oleifera. Its pods are used as a vegetable. It is also called Drumstick in English. Being rich in proteins, minerals and vitamins, it is also known as “Miracle Tree”. It is a member of the Moringaceae family, which comes with 14 other species in the Moringa genus. Moringa is an evergreen medium sized deciduous tree. Its stem is white brown in color and is covered with thick bark. Its origin is the sub-Himalayan region of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. In India, it is cultivated on a large scale in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Moringa is a nutritious multipurpose tree easily found all over India. It grows easily and its leaves, flowers, pods and roots are full of nutrients, which are useful for both humans and animals. It is traditionally planted in home gardens and its leaves and pods are used as a vegetable.
Moringa can also produce green fodder for livestock like any other perennial fodder crop. It is a fast growing and deep rooted drought tolerant plant, its green fodder is rich in soft leaves and branches. Which is very nutritious, tasty and aromatic. It has the potential to produce high biomass and can be used in the future as a supporter tree to provide green fodder to livestock throughout the year. It does not contain any such substance which reduces the quality and the amount of tannin in it is very less. It has a very high biological value as compared to other conventional foods and can be used as food for humans as well as green fodder for livestock.
Moringa had many names in different languages
The Latin name of Moringa is Moringa oleifera (Moringa oleifera Lam.), Syn-Moringa pterygosperma Gaertn. Is, and it belongs to the Moringaceae family. Moringa is also known by other names, which are:-
- Hindi – Sahajan, Sahajana, Saijan, Munga
- English – Drum stick tree, Indian horse radish, Horse radish tree
- Bengali – Sajina
- Gujarati – Segte, Sargvo
- Kannada – Nugge, Nuggi
- Konkani – Meising, Moring
- Malayalam – Sahijano, Sarhijano
- Marathi – Shevgi, Shegata
- Nepali – Sajyon
- Oriya – Muniya, Sajina
- Punjabi – Sonhjana, Sanjan
- Sanskrit – Shobhanjan, Shigru, Tikshangandha, Akshiv, Mochak, Saubhanjan
- Tamil – Marugai, Munkai
- Telugu – Munga
Moringa is a source of green fodder rich in many nutrients for milch animals. In addition to protein and minerals, it is also a good source of vitamins A, vitamin B complex, vitamin C, and vitamin E, some carotenoids, and sulfur-containing amino acids such as cysteine and methionine. They also contain lipids (8-9%) rich in omega 3 fatty acids. Moringa green fodder harvested at an interval of 2 to 3 months contains 17–18% dry matter, 15–25% crude protein, 4–10% crude fat, 6–10% crude fiber, 8–10% cool ash, Contains 1 – 3% calcium, 0.15 – 0.30% phosphorus, 0.51% magnesium, 1 – 2% potassium. Macronutrients such as potassium, phosphorus and calcium play an important role in balancing the physiological, metabolic and biochemical processes of livestock.
Moringa has 2 times more protein than yogurt, 4 times more vitamin A than carrots, 3 times more potassium than bananas, 4 times more calcium than milk, and 7 times more vitamin C than oranges..
Benefits of Moringa tree over other trees:
- It is drought tolerant and perennial source of fodder.
- It is rich in nutrients such as crude protein, minerals and vitamins.
- It can also be applied through seeds and vegetative stem pieces.
- Along with humans, animals also eat it.
Effect of feeding moringa fodder on body growth:
- Moringa is a nutritious plant and can be included in animal feed for physical growth, improvement and better performance. Feeding of moringa leaves increases body weight of animals by improving digestion and absorption of nutrients.
- Diets supplemented with moringa, sorghum have the highest efficiency of nitrogen utilization and digestibility of nutrients. As a result of which it is helpful in increasing the weight of animals, which is mainly due to better utilization of protein.
- Feeding pelleted moringa at 1.5 to 2 kg/goat can result in maximum body weight of up to 30 kg in a year. Replacement of alfa-alfa with moringa showed a positive effect on the physical development of goats and sheep due to the high fat and mineral salts in the moringa diet. In addition, dried moringa leaves can be fed in place of conventional feed mixture to goats and sheep without any adverse effect on body growth.
- Moringa leaves can be substituted as a protein source in place of cottonseed meal in up to 12.5 parts of the feed mixture safely without any adverse effect on the performance of growing goats. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) in goats is better for moringa-based diets (8:1) than for other sources (11:1).
Effects of moringa fodder on milk production and components:
- Diet based on Moringa leaves has favorable effect on milk production of animals. Moringa feed can replace sesame feed (high protein source) in lactating animals.
- Addition of moringa leaves up to 15% to livestock feed increases feed intake, nutrient digestibility and gut fermentation, and ultimately improves milk yield and fatty acid composition of milk.
- Feeding moringa increases milk production, milk solids, fat and lactose content. Apart from this, Moringa minerals reduce the amount of saturated fatty acid percentage and increase the amount of unsaturated fatty acid in goat milk.
- Feeding moringa diet in place of alfa-alfa is helpful in increasing milk production and its components and quality of milch sheep and goats. Milk production capacity increases by feeding Moringa diet instead of Alfa Alfa for 6 weeks continuously.
- In addition, due to higher antioxidant activity and vitamin C content, moringa fodder increases milk production more in animals compared to feeding alfa-alfa diet.
- Feeding a diet of moringa increases the absorption and utilization of minerals, vitamins and essential amino acids, which improves milk quality and productivity. Moringa-rich diets also have a lower cost of production per kg compared to feeding other forage crops or conventional feed mixtures.
- Moringa, therefore, as a cheap, nutritious and year-round green fodder, is an excellent feed for small animals as it enhances physical growth, milk production and nutrient utilization.
Medicinal Uses and Medicinal Properties:
Moringa oleifera also has many medicinal uses, which have long been recognized in Ayurvedic and Unani systems of medicine. The medicinal properties and pharmacological activities of different parts of Moringa are described below.
Antimicrobial and Antifungal
Moringa roots have antibacterial activity and are reported to be rich in antimicrobial agents. They contain an active antibiotic principle, pterigospermin, which has potent antibacterial and fungicidal effects. A similar compound has been found to be responsible for the antibacterial and fungicidal effects of its flowers.
Other miscellaneous activities
Moringa oleifera exhibits other diverse activities as well. The aqueous leaf extract regulates thyroid hormones and can be used to treat hyperthyroidism and exhibits an antioxidant effect.
The active ingredients that contribute to the anti-inflammatory property are tannins, phenols, alkaloids, flavonoids, carotenoids, β-sitosterol, vanillin, hydroxymyelin, moringin, moringin, β-sitostanone, and 9-octadecenoic acid.
Hepatoprotective activity
The methanol fraction of Moringa oleifera leaf extract has antiulcer and hepatoprotective effects. The leaf extract also has antiulcer effect indicating that this plant has a wide range of antiulcer constituents. Moringa roots also have hepatoprotective activity. Moringa flower extracts were also found to have a significant hepatoprotective effect which may be due to the presence of quercetin, a well-known flavonoid with hepatoprotective activity.
Immunomodulatory activity
The methanolic extract of this plant stimulates both blood and cellular immune responses.
Antidiarrheal activity
Moringa seed extract reduced gastrointestinal motility and was helpful in male Wister rats suffering from castor oil-induced diarrhea. Moringa seeds contain tannins, saponins and flavonoid substances that have antidiarrheal properties.
Heart activity
Moringa leaf extract lowers cholesterol levels and exerts a protective role in hyperlipidemia induced by iron deficiency
This plant has analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, anticancer, antioxidant, nootropic, hepatoprotective, gastroprotective, anti-ulcer, cardiovascular, anti-obesity, antiepileptic, antiasthmatic, antidiabetic, anti-urolithic, diuretic, local anesthetic, anti-allergic properties. In addition to all these properties, moringa also has anthelmintic, wound healing, antimicrobial, immunomodulatory and anti-diarrheal effects. These activities can be attributed to the phytoconstituents present in its root, stem, bark, leaf, flower, pod and seeds. Moringa offers immense value, which can form the basis of pharmaceutical supplementation, and should be used to promote public health. It can also be used as an alternative medicine to treat various diseases.
