Utilisation of thyme powder (Thyme vulgaris L.) as a growth promoter alternative to antibiotics for broiler chickens raised in a hot climate

Attia, Youssef A.; Bakhashwain, Ahmed A.; Bertu, Nehal K.

doi:10.1399/eps.2018.238

Cited by 25 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…This herb's leaves have many traditional and medicinal uses [26]. The hydroxychavicol and eugenol are the main bioactive compounds present in P. betle leaf; these compounds have strong antibacterial properties [28,30].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Efficacy of Selected Phytobiotics with Halquinol and Tetracycline on Gut Morphology, Ileal Digestibility, Cecal Microbiota Composition and Growth Performance in Broiler Chickens

Basit

Kadir

Loh

et al. 2020

Animals

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The current experiment was designed to estimate the comparative efficacy of selected phytobiotics Persicaria odorata leaf meal (POLM) and Piper betle leaf meal (PBLM) with halquinol, and tetracycline in broiler chickens. The 150-day-old broiler chickens were randomly assigned to five dietary groups. The dietary supplementation groups were the basal diet (BD), which served as the negative control (NC), and BD + 0.2 g/kg tetracycline, which served as the positive control (PC); BD + 0.03 g/kg halquinol (HAL), BD + 8 g/kg POLM (Po8), and BD + 4 g/kg PBLM (Pb4) were the treatment groups. Growth performance, gut morphology, ileal digestibility, and cecal microbiota composition were measured. On day 21, the body weight gain (BWG) was enhanced (p < 0.05) in the broiler chickens fed on phytobiotics (Po8 and Pb4) relative to the NC group, however, on day 42 and in terms of overall growth performance, BWG was enhanced (p < 0.05 in diets (Po8, Pb4, HAL and PC) in comparison with the NC group. Conversely, feed conversion ratio (FCR) was recorded reduced (p < 0.05) in Pb4, Po8, HAL, and PC group in comparison with the NC group. Supplementation of phytobiotics (Po8 and Pb4), HAL and PC, positively improved the gut morphology compared to the NC group. Furthermore, the maximum (p < 0.05) villus height (VH) in duodenum and jejunum was observed in broilers fed on diet Pb4. Supplementation of phytobiotics, HAL and PC, improved (p < 0.05) the digestibility of dry matter (DM) (except for HAL), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), and ash compared to the NC group. Dietary supplementation of phytobiotics (Po8 and Pb4), HAL and PC, significantly reduced the E. coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus aureus (except for HAL) counts compared to the NC group. However, supplementation of Pb4 resulted in significantly decreased total anaerobic bacteria and Clostridium spp. counts compared to the NC group. In addition, supplementation of phytobiotics significantly increased the Lactobacillus count compared to HAL, PC, and NC groups. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of phytobiotics improved the gut morphology, positively modulated and maintained the dynamics of cecal microbiota with enhanced nutrient digestibility, thus, increased the growth performance. Based on current results, phytobiotics could be used as an alternative to AGPs for sustainable broiler chicken production.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Efficacy of Selected Phytobiotics with Halquinol and Tetracycline on Gut Morphology, Ileal Digestibility, Cecal Microbiota Composition and Growth Performance in Broiler Chickens

Basit

Kadir

Loh

et al. 2020

Animals

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“…The ban against in-feed inclusion of antimicrobial growth promoters (AGPs) has increased the momentum in research to find potential alternatives [1,2]. An increasing interest has been seen in the study of phytobiotics as alternatives to AGPs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Inclusion of Different Doses of Persicaria odorata Leaf Meal (POLM) in Broiler Chicken Feed on Biochemical and Haematological Blood Indicators and Liver Histomorphological Changes

Basit

Kadir

Loh

et al. 2020

Animals

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This research was conducted to estimate the effects of Persicaria odorata leaf meal (POLM) on haematological indices, serum biochemical attributes, and internal organs parameters, including histomorphological features of the liver, in broiler chickens. A total of 120 one-day-old male broiler chicks (Cobb-500) were randomly allocated into four experimental groups. The dietary treatments were basal diet (BD), which served as the control (C), along with BD + 2 g/kg POLM (Po2), BD + 4 g/kg POLM (Po4), BD + 8 g/kg POLM (Po8), which were the supplemented groups. The body weight gain (BWG) showed a linear increase and feed conversion ratio (FCR) showed a linear decrease with increasing POLM dosage at day 42 (p ˂ 0.05) and for the overall growth performance period (p ˂ 0.01). On day 21 and day 42, the values of red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs), haemoglobin (Hb), and packed cell volume (PCV) showed linear increases (p ˂0.05) as the dosage of POLM increased in the diet. On day 21, dietary supplementation of POLM linearly decreased (p ˂ 0.05) the serum activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransaminase (AST), alanine aminotransaminase (ALT), and serum levels of urea and creatinine. On the other hand, serum levels of total protein (TP), albumin, and globulin showed a linear increase (p ˂ 0.05) as the POLM dosage increased. On day 42, the serum activity of AST and ALT and serum levels of glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, urea, and creatinine showed linear decreases (p ˂ 0.05) with increased levels of POLM in the diet. However, POLM supplementation linearly increased (p ˂ 0.05) the serum levels of TP and globulin. Dietary inclusion of POLM did not influence the organ parameters and showed no adverse effects on the liver histomorphology. In conclusion, supplementation of POLM increased the growth performance, improving haematological indices and serum biochemistry profiles of broiler chickens without any deleterious effects on the liver histomorphology. The results of the present study provide evidence that POLM can be safely used at a dose rate of 8 g/kg of feed as an alternative to conventional antimicrobial growth promoters (AGPs).

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“…Vasodilation increases blood flow to the skin, especially to the nonfeathered areas, which leads to increased heat dissipation from the body via radiation, convection, and conduction (Giloh et al, 2012). Exposure of poultry to high ambient temperature may also increase rectal temperature (Giloh et al, 2012;Skomorucha and Sosnówka-Czjka, 2017;Attia and Hassan, 2017;Cândido et al, 2020), which, in turn, contributes to deaths in birds unable to regulate the body temperature during heat stress (Berrong and Washburn, 1998;Attia et al, 2017a;2018a). In our study, broiler chickens from the groups supplemented with sage water extract and nettle showed lower radiation temperature of nonfeathered parts on day 31, and on days 31 and 35 of the study, respectively, compared to the control group.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Heat stress contributes to lower lymphocyte production and higher heterophil production in the avian blood, which increases the H:L ratio (Vermette et al, 2017;Attia and Hassan, 2017;Attia et al, 2017a;2018a;Xu et al, 2018) Therefore, the H:L ratio is used as a reliable indicator of stress in birds (Vermette et al, 2017;Attia et al, 2017c). Najafi and Torki (2010) observed that a diet with 200 mgˑkg -1 of essential oils from thyme and cinnamon caused a significant decrease in heterophils and an increase in blood lymphocytes of birds compared to the group fed the diet without herbal extracts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…High ambient temperature is a major stressor for farm animals (Attia and Hassan, 2017;Abd El-Hack et al, 2020). Modern lines of broiler chickens are particularly sensitive to high air temperatures (Song et al, 2018;Attia et al, 2018a;Cheng et al, 2019) because their rapid growth, high body weight and good feed conversion increase the amount of heat energy they produce (Giloh et al, 2012;Lara and Rostagno, 2013;Wang et al, 2020), which inhibits the body's adaptation to adverse thermal conditions (Attia et al, 2017a). The thermal comfort zone for homeothermic animals is characterised by a range of environmental temperatures, within which animals have minimal and nearly constant energy expenditure for maintaining body temperature (Cândido et al, 2020).…”

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confidence: 99%

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The Effect of Adding Herbal Extracts to Drinking Water on Body Temperature, Level of Thyroid Hormones and H:L Ratio in the Blood of Broiler Chickens Exposed to Elevated Ambient Temperature

Skomorucha

Sosnówka-Czajka

2021

Annals of Animal Science

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The aim of the study was to determine the effect of supplementing drinking water with extracts from lemon balm, sage and nettle on body temperature, level of thyroid hormones and the heterophil to lymphocyte (H:L) ratio in the blood of broiler chickens exposed to elevated rearing temperature. One-day-old Ross 308 chicks were divided into four groups: group I (CON) and experimental groups II (LB), III (S) and IV (N), in which, from 22 to 42 days of rearing, drinkers were supplemented with lemon balm extract, sage extract or nettle extract (2 ml/l water), respectively. In addition, at 5 weeks of growth, all the groups were exposed to elevated ambient temperature (up to 30°C) for 5 days, after which the recommended thermal conditions were reinstated. During the study, mortality, rectal temperature and radiated temperature of the broilers were monitored. Blood was collected from 10 birds per group to determine the concentration of thyroid hormones (T3 and T4) and to make blood smears. The H:L ratio was determined based on the percentage of heterophils (H) and lymphocytes (L). The herbal extracts from lemon balm, sage and nettle, added to drinking water at 2 ml/l, reduced the blood level of the thyroid hormone (triiodothyronine) and rectal temperature in the experimental broilers during the initial period of thermal stress. Chickens receiving the nettle extract were also characterised by lower radiated temperature of the unfeathered body, a lower H:L ratio in the blood during the increase in ambient temperature, and the lowest mortality percentage. It can therefore be considered that the dietary supplementation of nettle, in the form and concentration used in this study, had the most favourable effect on the physiological status of the birds (body temperature, level of thyroid hormones and H:L ratio) ratio exposed to elevated ambient temperatures (30oC), and thus on their welfare.

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Utilisation of thyme powder (Thyme vulgaris L.) as a growth promoter alternative to antibiotics for broiler chickens raised in a hot climate

Cited by 25 publications

References 0 publications

Comparative Efficacy of Selected Phytobiotics with Halquinol and Tetracycline on Gut Morphology, Ileal Digestibility, Cecal Microbiota Composition and Growth Performance in Broiler Chickens

Comparative Efficacy of Selected Phytobiotics with Halquinol and Tetracycline on Gut Morphology, Ileal Digestibility, Cecal Microbiota Composition and Growth Performance in Broiler Chickens

Effects of Inclusion of Different Doses of Persicaria odorata Leaf Meal (POLM) in Broiler Chicken Feed on Biochemical and Haematological Blood Indicators and Liver Histomorphological Changes

The Effect of Adding Herbal Extracts to Drinking Water on Body Temperature, Level of Thyroid Hormones and H:L Ratio in the Blood of Broiler Chickens Exposed to Elevated Ambient Temperature

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