Adding Medicinal Herbs Including Garlic (&lt;em&gt;Allium sativum&lt;/em&gt;) and Thyme (&lt;em&gt;Thymus vulgaris&lt;/em&gt;) to Diet of Laying Hens and Evaluating Productive Performance and Egg Quality Characteristics

Ghasemi Ghasemi

doi:10.3844/ajavsp.2010.151.154

Abstract

Problem statement: In trying to finding phytogenic antibiotic-substitutes this study was done and effects of adding graded levels of Medicinal Herbs (MH) including garlic (Allium sativum) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris) to laying hens’ diet on productive performance investigated. Approach: A total number of 108 Lohmann LSL-Lite hens after production peak were randomly divided in 18 cages (n = 6). Three iso-energetic and iso-nitrogenous experimental diets (ME = 2720 Kcal Kg-1 and CP = 154.2 g Kg-1) including three levels (0, 1 and 2 g kg-1) of ground mixture of garlic and thyme (1:1) were fed to hens with 6 replicates per diet during 6 week trial period. Collected data of Feed Intake (FI), Egg Production (EP), Egg Mass (EM) and calculated Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) as well as egg traits were analyzed based on completely randomized design using GLM procedure of SAS. Results: Dietary treatment did not have significant effect on EP, EM and FCR in laying hens (p>0.05). Dietary inclusion of MH decreased FI in weeks 1-6 (p≤0.05). Including diet with 0.1% MP improved means of egg weight (g) comparing to the other two experimental diets. Adding 0.2% MH to diet increased egg yolk color as well as blood lymphocyte counts and decreased egg shell weight comparing to other dietary treatments (p≤0.05). Conclusion: In conclusion, dietary inclusion of garlic and thyme can have beneficial effects on performance of laying hens in terms of improving egg weight and yolk color.

Highlights

Garlic (Allium sativum Linn) the spices of life isThere are many records in literature working on including herbal plant powders or essential oils extracted from medicinal plants in animal diets (Botsoglou et al, 2002; Burt and Reinders, 2003; Jamroz et al, 2005; Lopez-Bote et al, 1998; Miura et al, 2002; Zheng and Wang, 2001)
An isomer of thymol, is found in essential oils isolated from oregano and thyme
Average of egg weight (g) was increased in hens fed diet included 0.1% Medicinal Herbs (MH) comparing to control or 2% MHincluded diet (Table 3)

Summary

Introduction

Garlic (Allium sativum Linn) the spices of life isThere are many records in literature working on including herbal plant powders or essential oils extracted from medicinal plants in animal diets (Botsoglou et al, 2002; Burt and Reinders, 2003; Jamroz et al, 2005; Lopez-Bote et al, 1998; Miura et al, 2002; Zheng and Wang, 2001). A major component of thyme-essential oils, has been widely studied for its antimicrobial properties (Dorman and Deans, 2000). An isomer of thymol, is found in essential oils isolated from oregano and thyme. Carvacrol displays antimicrobial activity (Helander et al, 1998). Given their antimicrobial activity, it would be expected that thymol and carvacrol could have positive effects on growth performance in broilers. It would be expected that thymol and carvacrol could have positive effects on growth performance in broilers Such studies showed that thyme plant could be considered as an alternative natural growth promoter for poultry instead of antibiotics (McDevitt et al, 2007)

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