1. Plants and their biologically active chemical constituents, sometimes called secondary metabolites or bioactives, present numerous opportunities for the improvement of livestock production by inclusion in the diet. 2. Many such plant derived materials have well established therapeutic values in man; however, their potential as feed additives in animal production, particularly of poultry, remains largely unexploited. 3. There is increasing evidence indicating that they can be efficient in controlling diseases, and plant bioactives may also influence production parameters such as feed efficiency and product quality. 4. It has been reported that they may even replicate some of the effects of antibiotic growth promoters, which were banned from use in Europe from 2006. 5. This review assesses the status of plant bioactives in poultry production and their mode of action on avian physiology, particularly in the digestive tract.

Dietary plant bioactives for poultry health and productivity.

A research study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary inclusion of thyme powder as an antibiotic growth promoter substitution on performance, immune responses, hematological and biochemical parameters in broiler chicks. In this study, 192 day old chicks (Ross 308) were allocated to four treatments with four replicates based on a completely randomized design. Dietary treatments included control, antibiotic (flavophospholipol), and 5 and 10 g/kg thyme powder. Supplementing the diet with antibiotic and 5 g/kg thyme resulted in a significant increase in body weight (P 0.05). Thyme powder at 10 g/kg level significantly (P<0.05) increased HDL-cholesterol concentration but protein, albumin, triglyceride, total and LDL cholesterol concen-trations were not influenced. Treatments also failed to induce any statistical impacts on hematological parameters of broilers including red and white blood cell count, hemoglobin and hematocrit values. The obtained results suggest that supplementing broilers’ diet with 5 g/kg thyme can indicate favorable influences of antibiotic growth promoter on performance without any detrimental impacts on immune responses and blood parameters.

	 

	Key words: Broiler, thyme, growth performance, immunity, serum biochemistry, hematology.

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Performance, immunity, serum biochemical and hematological parameters in broiler chicks fed dietary thyme as alternative for an antibiotic growth promoter

This study was planned to evaluate the impact of different nano-curcumin levels on the growth rate, carcass, blood chemistry and caecal microbes of growing quail. A total of 270 Japanese quails at one-week-old were distributed to six equal groups; each group consisted of 45 unsexed birds with five replications (nine quails each). The 1st group was fed a basal diet, whereas the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th groups were fed diets containing nano-curcumin (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 g/kg diet, respectively). Nano-curcumin levels significantly increased (p ≤ 0.0001) body weight at 3 weeks and 5 weeks of age. Body weight gain during 1-3, 3-5 and 1-5 weeks of age was significantly increased (p < 0.0001) in groups treated with nano-curcumin levels (except at 0.3 g/kg; 1-3 weeks) compared to control. During 1 to 5 weeks, feed intake was decreased (p < 0.0001) in birds receiving nano-curcumin (0.1, 0.3 and 0.4 g/kg) diets. The best values of feed conversion ratio were recorded for the 0.4 g nano-curcumin-treated group. Carcass traits were not affected Nano-curcumin levels. The inclusion of nano-curcumin (0.2, 0.3 or 0.5 g/kg) significantly increased serum TP (p = 0.0004), albumin (p = 0.0078) and globulin (p < 0.0001). Quails fed with nano-curcumin (0.2 g/kg) exhibited the highest SOD and GSH activities, serum IgG and IgM concentrations and complement values compared to control. The addition of any level of nano-curcumin in the quail diet also significantly improved the lipid profile. In conclusion, supplemental nano-curcumin had beneficial impacts on growth, lipid profile, blood constituents, antioxidant indices, and immunity of growing quail, as well as increasing counts of lactic acid bacteria and reducing pathogenic bacteria.

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/5/754/pdf

Effect of Dietary Supplementation of Biological Curcumin Nanoparticles on Growth and Carcass Traits, Antioxidant Status, Immunity and Caecal Microbiota of Japanese Quails.

There is growing interest in developing natural alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters in order to maintain both birds' performance and health. In the last decade, Turmeric has been extensivel...

The use of Turmeric (Curcuma longa) in poultry feed

Due to the potentially undesirable effects of antibiotics as growth promoters in poultry production, researchers are looking for viable alternative to limit or replace their use. One such class of comparable alternative is natural source of herbs and medicinal plants. In the last decade, these alternatives have been increasingly used in broiler, layer and Japanese quail diets. Reports have variously claimed that medicinal plants, used as either the whole plant, their leaves or flowers, can enhance poultry performance. From the available literature, it can be concluded that thyme (Thymus vulgaris) belongs to such class of medicinal plant and may be an effective alternative to antibiotics in poultry production. In this review, its effects on different parameters of production performance in poultry are briefly discussed.

Thymus vulgaris: alternative to antibiotics in poultry feed

The main target of this study was to determine the effect of dietary natural antioxidants: Thyme, rosemary, oregano and curcuma longa on production and reproduction performance of laying local hens and study the oxidative stability of yolk shell egg storage at room temperature (16 C±2). A total number of 360 o hens and 36 cocks from El-Salaam strain of 28 weeks old were divided into 12 groups with 3 replicate each (10 hens +1 cock). Birds were fed on the experimental diets, using two levels (0.5 and 1.0%) from four types of herbs (oregano, thyme, rosemary, curcuma longa) as natural antioxidants, in comparison to two levels of vitamin E (100 and 200) mg/Kg diet, in addition to two diets, one using vitamins and minerals premix with vitamin E (control) and the other without vitamin E (Negative-control).The main results obtained from this study can be summarized as follows: Addition of herbs as natural antioxidants during the laying period can improve the production performance especially at 1.0% thyme, rosemary, oregano or 0.5% curcuma longa increased egg production, egg mass and improved feed conversion. Addition of 1.0% curcuma longa increased numerically values of shell weight and egg shape index. This treatment increased percentage of yolk weight and improved yolk colour by 10.87% and 15.62%, respectively compared to control group. Addition 1.0% oregano gave the highest values of all nutrient digestibility coefficients; except ether extract digestibility that was the lowest value compared to control diet, however it was statistically insignificant. Statistically, the highest values (P<0.05) of antibody titter against sheep red blood cells were recorded for hens fed 1.0% thyme or rosemary. Thyme or rosemary at 1.0% significantly decreased plasma total lipid, in comparison to the control by 17.15 and 27.15%, respectively while total cholesterol and LDL- cholesterol decreased insignificantly. Addition of thyme, rosemary or curcuma longa at 1.0% significantly decreased yolk total lipid, in comparison to the control group by 12.14, 13.19 and 13.95%, respectively. Addition of 1 % oregano or rosemary or 0.5 and 1.0% curcuma longa during laying period significantly decreased malonaldehyede formation in egg yolk and had positive effect on oxidative stability of shell eggs storage at room temperature(16oC±2). Addition of 1.0% oregano, rosemary or 0.5% curcuma longa significantly increased the percentages of fertility. While 1.0% thyme or 0.5-1.0% curcuma longa significantly increased the percentages of hatchability of fresh eggs. It could be concluded from this study that herbs could be used as natural antioxidants during laying period. Oregano, rosemary or thyme at 1.0% or curcuma longa at 0.5% can improve productive performance, fertility and hatchability and had positive effect on oxidative stability of shell eggs during storage.

E.M. Qota

Papers

Effect of Natural Antioxidant on Oxidative Stability of Eggs and Productive and Reproductive Performance of Laying Hens