Cinnamon: A Natural Feed Additive for Poultry Health and Production—A Review

Abstract

The increased bacterial resistance to synthetic antibiotics and consumer awareness about the health and food safety concerns have triggered the ban on the use of antibiotic growth promotors (AGPs) in the poultry industry. This situation encouraged the poultry sector and industry to explore safe alternatives to AGPs and focus on developing more sustainable feed management strategies to improve the intestinal health and growth performance of poultry. Consequently, phytogenic feed additives (PFAs) have emerged as natural alternatives to AGPs and have great potential in the poultry industry. In recent years, cinnamon (one of the most widely used spices) has attracted attention from researchers as a natural product with numerous health benefits for poultry. The essential oils in cinnamon, in particular, are of interest because of their antioxidant, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, and hypocholesterolaemic effects, in addition to their ability to stimulate digestive enzymes in the gut. This review mainly emphasizes the potential impact of cinnamon as a natural feed additive on overall gut health, nutrient digestibility, blood biochemical profile, gene expression, gut microbiota and immune response.

Effect of red osier dogwood extract on growth performance, blood biochemical parameters, and gut functionality of broiler chickens challenged or unchallenged intraperitoneally with Salmonella Enteritidis lipopolysaccharide

“…The gut microbiota performs an indispensable role in influencing the health and performance of poultry birds. The gut microbiota of poultry is mostly reported to be dominated by bacteria species from the phylum Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Fusobacteria, Proteobacteria ( Ali et al., 2021 ), and Verrucomicrobia; however, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes are the largest phyla ( Qin et al., 2010 ; Almeida et al., 2019 ; Forster et al., 2019 ). Given the novelty of the ROD extract, their impact on the intestinal microbiota of broiler chickens is very scanty.…”

LC-MS/MS-QTOF Screening and Identification of Phenolic Compounds from Australian Grown Herbs and Their Antioxidant Potential

“…This study will provide a piece of useful and valuable information regarding the potent effects of herbal phenolic compounds on human health. Additionally, it will support the inclusion of culinary herbs and spices in different food and feed sectors as a potential bioactive constituent [ 15 ].…”

Could Dietary Supplementation with Different Sources of N-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Modify the Rabbit Gut Microbiota?

“…Common factors that can lead to a perturbation of the intestinal homeostasis could depend on both environment and host such as the species [ 5 ], age [ 6 ], genetic factor [ 7 ], farm management [ 8 ], drug treatment [ 9 ], exposure to pathogens [ 10 ], and diet [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. The disruption of the normal microflora composition and its metabolic activities could alter the microbiota homeostasis resulting in “dysbiosis” and consequently in different diseases, not only localized to the gastrointestinal tract but also at a systemic level [ 14 , 15 , 16 ].…”