Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXV, Issue 1
Written by Petru Alexandru VLAICU, Arabela Elena UNTEA, Teodor GAVRIS, Gabriela Maria CORNESCU
The use of different herbal plants and their associate essential oils as feed additives is of great importance for various purposes in poultry production. This trend started since 2006 due to ban on use of certain antibiotics in poultry diets, in the European Union, because they are suspected of contributing substantially to increasing resistance among human pathogens. Some investigations have shown that a number of plant feed additives and their essential oils, have shown significant beneficial effects on animal production, health status and meat quality. These natural feed additives not only act as antibiotic replacements for the animals, but also exert beneficial properties in the poultry products, especially, antioxidant properties in meat. However, the overall efficacy of herbal plants and their associate essential oils, together with their nutritive value with impact on the health status of animals and humans (via the food chain), requires constant research on standardization of correct dosages for particular functions to be studied.
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