Advantage of Corchorus olitorus on Intestinal Transit Time over Manihot esculenta in Female Wistar Rats

Author(s):

Serah Funke Ige*, Kikelomo Olamide Olukiran and Mayowa Jeremiah Adeniyi

Since fiber is widely known to decrease Intestinal Transit Time (ITT), we sought to understand the relative effect of fiber of Corchorus olitorus on ITT over that of Manihot esculenta in female wistar rats. 27 animals weighing 100-130g were randomly divided into three groups of 9 rats each. While group 1 was fed grower’s mash (GM) (normal feed diet), groups 2 and 3 were fed crude fibers of Manihot esculenta (ME) and Corchorus olitorus (CO) respectively. Crude fibers were extracted from GM, CO and ME using standard procedures. ITT was determined by measuring the intestinal length covered by the feeds at 90, 120 and 150 minutes postprandial and was expressed in percentage of the total length of the small intestine. When compared with GM fed group, there was an increase in % intestinal length covered in CO and ME fed rats 90 minutes postprandial. At 90 minutes postprandial, there was no significant change in % intestinal length covered in CO fed rats when compared with rats given ME. At 120 minutes postprandial, ME and CO fed rats showed increased % intestinal length covered when compared with GM fed rats. CO fed rats showed a higher % intestinal length covered than ME fed rats. Furthermore, At 150 minutes postprandial, CO and ME fed rats exhibited higher % intestinal length covered than GM fed rats. However, CO consumption resulted in increased % intestinal length covered than ME. Hence, we conclude that ingestion of fibers of CO decreased ITT than that of ME.