Effect of oregano oil dietary supplementation on production parameters, height of intestinal villi and the antioxidant capacity in the breast of broiler

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Oregano additives could contain growth stimulating compounds for poultry, however, a great variation attributed to their main components is observed. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of oregano oil dietary supplementation on the productive variables, the height of the intestinal villi and the accumulation of antioxidant compounds in the breast of broilers. In total, 480 broilers were reared from 1 to 42 d of age and since the first day of life were allocated into four treatments, each with four replications of 30 birds. The formulated diet was based on corn and soybean meal and 0, 100, 200 or 400 mg of oregano oil per kg of feed were incorporated in the diets of treatment 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion and mortality rates were weekly recorded. At 21 and 42 days of age the intestinal villi height and antioxidant capacity in the chicken breast were measured. Oregano oil used contained 43.17% and 29.16% of thymol and carvacrol, respectively. Feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion rate and mortality were not affected by oregano oil dietary supplementation. The height of intestinal villi increased with the level of oregano oil supplementation (P<0.05). However, the size of the intestinal villi was greater in the duodenum compared to the other parts (P<0.05), and jejunum and ileum had the same height. Antioxidant capacity of chicken breast at the 6th week was increased in the group that was dietary supplemented with 400 mg of oregano oil per kg of feed.

Effect of herbal extract mixture on growth performance and antioxidant parameters in broilers

“…There was evidence that the HEM improved growth performance by showing antioxidant effects (Lee et al, 2014;Lin et al, 2017). This study confirmed several previous studies that reported that dietary phytobiotics could increase the performance of poultry because of the antioxidant activity (Hashemi and Davoodi, 2011;Fonseca-García et al, 2017;Lin et al, 2017;Abu Hafsa and Ibrahim, 2018). In contrast, some researchers reported that Honokiol-Magnolol and Sanguinarine, which were used combined or alone, did not affect performance (Karimi et al, 2014;Yeşilbağ et al, 2020).…”

Effects of oregano (Lippia origanoides) essential oil supplementation on the performance, egg quality, and intestinal morphometry of Isa Brown laying hens

“…Thymol can have a positive impact on intestinal morphology by affecting the secretion of endogenous digestive enzymes [40]. This effect is very important because the main function of the villi is the absorption of nutrients, and this activity partially depends on their size, with the absorption ability increasing with an increased villus length [41] and crypt depth [13]. Deeper crypts indicate that faster cell turnover is occurring to allow villus renewal in response to normal shedding or inflammation induced by pathogens or their toxins [42].…”

Comparative analysis of the antioxidant capacity of some natural and synthetic antioxidants added to palm oil

“…Wang et al [13] investigated the antioxidant capacity of rosemary essential oil from China and the Mediterranean region, and obtained IC50 values of 21.56mg/mL, 23.8mg/mL and 16.45 mg/mL.They also determined the antioxidant capacity using other methods, and came to the conclusion that the antioxidant activity of rosemary showed that samples grown in China perform better than those of the Mediterranean region [13]. It can be concluded that the concentration of essential oil compounds varies depending on the time of harvest, growing conditions, geographical location, altitude, climate, genetic diversity and phenological age of the plant at the time of cutting [14]. According to Almeida et al [15]the IC50 value for oregano oil is 0.5 mg/mL, which is almost the same value as in this study.…”