Growth, Carcass Composition, Haematology and Immunity of Broilers Supplemented with Sumac Berries (Rhus coriaria L.) and Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)

Abstract

Simple Summary: Widespread use of antibiotics is known to cause resistance in bacteria, yet they are routinely used to improve growth performance in meat chickens. We investigated two medicinal plants, thyme and sumac berries, for their ability to function as an alternative to antibiotics in the diet of broilers. The actual plants or parts of the plants have rarely been fed before as supplements, mostly their extracted oils have been used instead. In our study, they were fed at 1-3% of the diet to investigate if the effects were dependent on the dose. We found evidence of improved immune systems with both medicinal plants when the chickens were tested for resistance to Newcastle Disease and influenza. Sumac berries, and to a lesser extent thyme, reduced the fat content of the birds' abdomen, by 62 and 41%, respectively, reflecting an observed reduction in lipids in the blood. It is concluded that these two medicinal plants offer potential to replace antibiotics in the diet of meat chickens, as well as offering benefits in reducing the fat content of the birds.Abstract: Alternatives to antibiotics as growth promoters for broilers could reduce bacterial resistance to antibiotics, while at the same time maintaining growth and improving carcass composition. We investigated the benefits of adding the medicinal plants sumac and thyme at 1, 2 or 3% of the diet for male Ross broiler chicks, with four replicates of ten birds in each treatment group and a Control. Feed intake was reduced for chickens fed the sumac supplements, and, at the two higher doses, defeathered body weight was also reduced. Abdominal fat was reduced by 41% in chickens fed thyme and 62% in those fed sumac. This reflected reduced low density lipoproteins in their blood, and in higher dose thyme treatments and all sumac treatments, reduced high density lipoproteins in blood. Apart from this, there was little effect of the supplements on carcass composition. Blood glucose was reduced in the supplemented chickens. There was evidence of higher antibody titers to Newcastle disease and influenza in supplemented chickens. It is concluded that both thyme and sumac offer potential to reduce fat content and improve disease responsiveness in broiler production systems.Animals 2020, 10, 513 2 of 14 and reduce losses. However, the persistent use of antibiotics in the diet of broilers can cause an increase in antimicrobial resistance of human and animal bacteria [1,2]. Hence there is strong consumer demand for farm animal diets to be free from routinely administered antibiotics [3]. This has led to attempts to use medical plants as alternatives to antibiotics and artificial growth promoters, e.g., [4]. Limited studies of the effects of these supplements on broiler performance have been reported in the scientific literature.While the essential oil of Thymus vulgaris (Thymol) is known to increase the production of digestive enzymes and performance in broilers [5][6][7][8][9], limited research exists evaluating the performance of commercial broilers receiving the whol...

Selected herbal plants showing enhanced growth performance, ileal digestibility, bone strength and blood metabolites in broilers

“…Similarly, FCR was also improved in the treatment groups compared to the control. Reduced feed intake has been reported previously in experiments conducted on broiler fed with these plants (Duru et al 2013) or combination of some other herbal products (Ahmadian et al 2020;Galli et al 2020). The lower feed intake may be due to the unpleasant smell, taste and anti-proteolytic activities.…”

Effect of Essential Oil of Thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) or Increasing Levels of a Commercial Prebiotic (TechnoMOS®) on Growth Performance and Carcass Characteristics of Male Broilers

“…Although there were positive effects on production performance in the present study, there were no effects on carcass characteristics measured, which was in line with data reported by Salehimanesh et al and De Souza et al [ 80 , 81 ]. On the contrary, Tayeri et al [ 82 ] showed effects on carcass composition with symbiotic use of probiotics and prebiotics and Ahmadian et al [ 83 ] using thyme essential oil.…”

Thymol Increases Sensitivity of Clinical Col-R Gram-Negative Bacteria to Colistin

“…Thymol is extracted from the spice oregano, as a medicinal plant essential oil. It has attracted wide attention because of its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, and antifungal biological activities ( 8 – 10 ). In recent years, thymol has been attracting the close attention of researchers, as monoterpene alcohol, its antibacterial activity is related to its structure, thymol can overcome the lipid barrier and target the cell membrane of the hydrophobic pathogen, which can be integrated into the lipid layer of the cell membrane and induce its instability.…”