Abstract

Background: Phytochemical agents derived from traditional plants have been used in various countries as dietary components. The poultry industry is looking at alternatives to current poultry feed ingredients and phytogenic compounds are one group of alternatives. In the “western” world, even though some agents have not been used in animal husbandry, several phytogenic compounds have been used in human pharmaceutical or nutraceutical products. The lack of safety data has prevented the use of phytogenic compounds in poultry feed. The present study focuses on the general health of broiler chickens during and after administration of feed containing the natural phytogenic compounds, berberine, ursolic acid and piceid, administered in different concentrations.

Methods and Results: 64 pens each containing 20 male broiler chickens were used in this study. The treatments were divided into eight groups each of which were randomly allocated to eight replicate pens. The study was carried out by an independent contractor, Southern Poultry Feed and Research, Inc. on behalf of the authors. The contractor conducted a randomization procedure for pen assignment, and subsequently conducted the safety study by feeding birds for 42 days. Birds were weighed on days 21, 35 and 42. The food intake was quantified allowing estimation of feed conversion ratio. On day 42 birds were euthanized for analysis of liver pathology. At all concentration tested all three agents tested were found to have no adverse effects on the birds and did not significantly affect feed conversion ratio when included in poultry feed.

Conclusion: This substantial study suggests that berberine, ursolic acid or piceid can be included safely in poultry feed up to the highest concentrations tested in this study, i.e. 0.3g berberine, 0.05g ursolic acid, or 0.5g piceid per kg poultry feed.