Impacts of onion and cinnamon supplementation as natural additives on the performance, egg quality, and immunity in laying Japanese quail.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary dried onion and dried cinnamon supplementation on laying performance, egg quality, serum lipid profile, and immune responses of Japanese quails. A total of 120 laying quails aged 12 weeks were randomly allocated into five groups (24 birds each). Each treatment was replicated 4 times with 6 quails in a completely randomized design. Dietary treatments were as follows: control (basal diet only, without any supplementation); tylosin (basal diet + 100 mg tylosin/kg diet); onion (basal diet + 800 mg dried onion/kg diet); cinnamon (basal diet + 800 mg dried cinnamon/kg diet); and onion + cinnamon (basal diet + mixture of 400 mg each of dried onion and dried cinnamon/kg diet). Cinnamon supplementation improved laying rate, egg numbers, egg mass, and feed conversion ratio of quails compared to the control treatment, followed by tylosin supplementation. Egg shell percentage was higher (P < 0.05) in quails that consumed the onion + cinnamon mixture than those fed only the cinnamon supplemented diet. Serum total lipid content, egg yolk lipids and egg yolk cholesterol were lower (P < 0.05) in birds fed with the supplemented diets than that of the control group. On the other hand, dietary supplements did not affect levels of triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein levels. The dietary supplementation with onion and/or cinnamon reduced serum malondialdehyde levels compared to control treatment. The foot web index was higher (P < 0.05) in the onion treatment than in the other experimental groups. The dried cinnamon and the mixture of dried onion + dried cinnamon treatments showed higher (P < 0.05) immunoglobulin M (IgM) levels than the control treatment. In conclusion, dietary supplementation with natural plant materials such as dried onion and cinnamon can be used to improve the laying Japanese quail performance, egg quality, and immunity.

The role of polyphenols in poultry nutrition.

In the last two decades, poultry and animal industries became increasingly interested in using plant-based feed supplements, herbs and their derivatives to retain or enhance their health and productivity. These health benefits for the host mainly attributed to the secondary plant metabolites, namely polyphenols. Polyphenols are renowned for their antioxidant, immunomodulatory, anti-mutagenic and anti-inflammatory properties. However, despite these advantages of polyphenols, they have been characterized by poor absorption in the gut and low concentration in target cells that compromise their role as effective antioxidants. The low bioavailability of polyphenols necessitates the need for further investigations to harness their full potential in poultry farms. This review is existing evidence about the bioavailability of polyphenols and their antioxidant, immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, detoxification properties and their impacts on poultry performance.

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

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.

Growth performance, hemato-biochemical indices, thyroid activity, antioxidant status, and immune response of growing Japanese quail fed diet with full-fat canola seeds.

Dietary supplementation of full-fat canola seeds (FFCS) can be part of the global solution to the problem of incessant raise in feed cost. Genetic improvement via plant breeding constantly introduces varieties of canola with higher content of unsaturated fatty acids and lower content of anti-nutritional factors. This experiment was conducted to evaluate the dietary inclusion effect of new mutant of FFCS on growth performance, carcass traits, blood metabolites, thyroid activity, antioxidant status, and immune response of growing Japanese quails. A total of 640 21-day-old quails were used in a completely randomize design with and equally allotted to four experimental groups and eight replicates each. The experimental groups fed diets supplemented with 0, 50, 100, and 150 g FFCS/kg diet from 21 to 49 days of age. All experimental diets were isocaloric and isonitrogenous. The inclusion level of FFCS did not affect body weight and body weight gain at all studied periods, while feed intake was reduced and feed conversion ratio was enhanced linearly under all experimental periods except the duration from 28 to 35 days of age. All carcass traits were not statistically affected with graded levels of FFCS. Hemoglobin, leucocytes, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), and MCH concentration values were linearly increased. Serum protein fractions, liver enzymes activities, renal function biomarkers, and triiodothyronine concentration were not affected. However, serum lipid profile was significantly altered, where high-density lipoprotein was linearly increased while triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) were linearly (and quadratically for LDL) decreased. Antioxidant and immune statuses were improved; significant increment in glutathione and glutathione peroxidase values and antibody titer against Newcastle disease virus were elevated in groups treated with 10% and 15% FFCS. In conclusion, studied levels of FFCS, however, were not able to promote the growth rate of growing Japanese quails; they were more effective in boosting their antioxidant status and humoral immune response.