Abstract
Leucaena leucocephala trees are commonly known as White Lead tree. It is native to Southern Mexico and Northern Central America and spread across many tropical and sub-tropical locations. It has multipurpose uses, such as generation of firewood, timber, greens, fodder, and green manure, as well as to provide shade and control soil erosion. It has been used for medicinal purposes because of possessing multiple pharmacological properties. Studies have shown the presence of various secondary metabolites such as alkaloid, cardiac glycosides, tannins, flavonoids, saponins, and glycosides in this species. In traditional medicine, it is used to control stomach ache and as contraception and abortifacient. In the present study, the global distribution, taxonomy, chemical composition, pharmacological activities, and potential uses of Leucaena leucocephalaare discussed.
Highlights
Leucaena leucocephala (Family: Fabaceae) is a small, fastgrowing tree, and has multiple common names by which it is known such as White Lead tree, White Popinac, Jumbay, and Wild Tamarind [1]
Ruminant animals are able to tolerate mimosine than non-ruminants and L. leucocephala could not be a major portion of the non-ruminant diet
The inclusion of 24% to 40% of fresh L. leucocephala leaves is recommended for growing or fattening rabbits [76,77,78,79,80,81]
Summary
Leucaena leucocephala (Family: Fabaceae) is a small, fastgrowing tree, and has multiple common names by which it is known such as White Lead tree, White Popinac, Jumbay, and Wild Tamarind [1]. The axillaries are on long stalks, white in color, in dense global heads measuring 1–2 cm across; fruit pod with raised border, flat, thin; becoming dark brown and hard when mature, 10–15 cm long, 1.6– 2.5 cm wide, dehiscent at both sutures and each legume contains 15– 20 hard, shiny, brown seeds that are flat and tear-drop shaped This species is a polyploid with 2n = 104 chromosomes [11,12,13,14,15]. 5%, 20% and 30% of L. leucocephala leaf meal in the diet caused a decline of feed intake, weight gain and egg production [6870] These low performances may be due to the toxicity of mimosine or poor amino acid digestibility [71]. The L. leucocephala leaves possess many biological properties such as antimicrobial, anticancer, cancer preventive, diuretic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant; antitumor, antihistaminic, nematicide, pesticide, antiandrogenic, hypocholesterolemic and hepatoprotective (table 2) [6]
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