The usefulness of oregano and its derivatives in poultry nutrition
Origanum vulgare is a natural, less toxic, residue free feed supplement for poultry when compared to other synthetic ingredients. It contains key bioactive components, including as thymol and carvacrol. O. vulgare as a poultry feed supplement has had an antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiviral, immunom...
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Published in | World's poultry science journal Vol. 74; no. 3; pp. 463 - 474 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Cambridge, UK
Cambridge University Press on behalf of World's Poultry Science Association
01.09.2018
Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Ltd |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Origanum vulgare is a natural, less toxic, residue free feed supplement for poultry when compared to other synthetic ingredients. It contains key bioactive components, including as thymol and carvacrol. O. vulgare as a poultry feed supplement has had an antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiviral, immunomodulatory and antiparasitic effect. The potential advantages of utilising oregano extracts, in poultry diets include improved feed intake and feed conversion, enhanced digestion, expanded productive performance, down-regulated disease incidence and economic losses. From the available literature, average inclusions of oregano essential oil up to 600 mg/kg in broiler diets increased body weight gain. Using 1% oregano oil in broiler diets improved feed conversion ratio and feed utilisation. Moreover, oregano can induce a marked improvement on the intestinal microbiota and ileal villus height of broilers when combine with attapulgite by ratio 15 mg/kg of oregano. Broilers fed 300 ppm oregano oil in their diet display higher IgG titres relative to those reared on control (without supplementation) diet. Including 240 mg oregano supplementation per kg diet appears to give an optimum level for protecting broiler chickens from C. perfringens infections. Bioactive components extracted from O. vulgare parts could be used in poultry diets levels of 10 to 30 g/kg. This review includes information on the use of O. vulgare and its derivatives in poultry nutrition. To maximise the overall productivity of poultry, oregano may be used as a natural alternative to antibiotics and drugs due to the absence of side effects and residues. |
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ISSN: | 0043-9339 1743-4777 |
DOI: | 10.1017/S0043933918000454 |