Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) Oil as a Potential Alternative to Antibiotics in Poultry.

Mohamed E Abd El-Hack,Abdel-Moneim E Abdel-Moneim,Ahmed A Allam,Noureldeen G Mohammed,May Bin-Jumah,Sarah I Othman,Mahmoud Alagawany,Asmaa F Khafaga,Shaaban S Elnesr

doi:10.3390/antibiotics9050210

Abstract

The removal of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) as feed additives in poultry nutrition from the market in many countries has compelled researchers to find unconventional and safe alternatives to AGPs. Probiotics, prebiotics, enzymes, organic acids, herbs, immune-stimulants and essential oils (EO) have been investigated as feed additives in poultry production. Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum), one of the oldest medicinal plants and widely used around the world, can be used in poultry rations in the form of powder or essential oil. Essential oils produced from aromatic plants have become more interesting owing to their potential effects as hypocholesterolaemic agents, antioxidants, antimicrobials, antifungals and stimulants of digestive enzymes. The potential insecticidal and antimicrobial activities of EO against pathogens that cause spoilage in agriculture crops and human diseases might be attributed mainly to the high content of volatile components (mainly cinnamaldehyde, eugenol and carvacrol) in cinnamon oil. The present review focuses on the effects of cinnamon oil as a feed additive on poultry performance, carcass traits, meat quality, hypocholesterolaemic impact, antioxidant activity, immunity and microbiological aspects.

Highlights

The poultry industry worldwide is one of the main agricultural subsectors [1]
El-Baroty et al [28] showed that essential oil extracted from the bark of Cinnamomum zeylanicum was characterized as being a unique, aromatic, monoterpene-rich natural source, with trans-cinnamaldehyde (45.62%) as the major constituent
Pathak et al [48] demonstrated that enramycin supplementation (125 mg/kg feed), or a combination of calcium formate and cinnamaldehyde (500 mg/kg diet), to broilers orally challenged with E.coli (108 bacteria/bird) on day 14, significantly improved feed conversion conversionrate rate (FCR) compared with the control group, and concluded that antibiotics can be replaced with essential oils (EO) and organic acid

Summary

Introduction

The poultry industry worldwide is one of the main agricultural subsectors [1]. The supplementation of poultry diets with natural products containing bioactive components has shown promising results [2,3,4,5,6]. Aromatic plants and their essential oil extracts possess potential insecticidal activities and antimicrobial effects against pathogens [9,10,11,12], stimulating the effect on the digestive system [13] These herbs and their extracts received more attention as possible antibiotic growth. 2020, 9, 210 potential insecticidal activities and antimicrobial effects against pathogens [9,10,11,12],2 of 12 extracts possess stimulating the effect on the digestive system [13] These herbs and their extracts received more attention as possible antibiotic growth promoter (AGP) alternatives due to being natural, promoter (AGP) alternatives due to being natural, available, non-toxic and residue-free. Stimulate the growth of beneficial bacteria in poultry digestive tracts

Chemical

Body Weight and Body Weight Gain

Carcass Traits

Blood Parameters

Intestinal Microbiota

Conclusions