permaculture

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Herbal therapy for poultry
// 23 May  2007
Natural alternatives to growth-promoting antibiotics in livestock feed  may 
soon be on the menu for poultry in Europe, thanks to research conducted by  
REPLACE, an EU-funded project.  

Although antibiotics were  never used to the same extent in Europe as in the 
US, the ban has had a varying  impact on livestock production, says John 
Wallace of the Rowett Research  Institute in the UK, coordinator of the 
REPLACE 
project (replacing antibiotics).  

Dr Wallace believes that the removal of growth-promoting antibiotics has  
placed some livestock producers in Europe at a competitive disadvantage, 
since  
other countries such as the US have no restrictions on their use.

So,  what is the alternative? Funded under the 'Food quality and safety' 
programme of  the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), REPLACE is looking into 
the use 
of plants  such as herbs, plant extracts including essential oils and other 
materials as  safe alternatives to these feed antimicrobials. 

All of the samples are  of plants or extracts that are either indigenous to 
Europe or that can be grown  here.
The candidates selected by the project come from some 500 samples of  plant 
material which were collected during the Rumen-up project in FP5, to  
decrease 
methane and nitrogenous emissions from ruminants and to alleviate  
nutritional 
stress. 'Methane is not only bad for the environment, it is also bad  for the 
animals to be losing an important source of energy,' Wallace  explained.

In FP6, the samples were tested this time for use in poultry  for their 
potential to control infections from and immunity to E. coli and other  
parasites, 
as well as for their impact on food safety and feed  efficiency.

Three promising plants
The project consortium has  identified three promising candidates for which 
it is filing patent  applications. One candidate, which has been used in 
traditional herbal medicine,  was found to be particularly effective in 
improving 
feed efficiency in poultry.  

Dr Wallace believes that the three candidates are commercially viable.  
'First though, we will have to prove their efficiency and safety,' he  noted.

The consortium is currently at the stage of drawing up candidate  field 
trials and figuring best way to spend the remaining money to prove the  
efficiency 
of these candidates. Trials are expected to start in the coming  months.
http://www.worldpoultry.net/home/id2205-18410/herbal_therapy_for_poultry.html 
  




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