Husbandry

Dietary supplements made from plums, probiotics, safflower, and tea strengthen poultry immune systems, according to researchers with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

Poultry infected with the parasite Eimeria maxima usually develop avian coccidiosis, a disease estimated to cost producers globally more than $1.2 billion every year. So Agricultural Research Service (ARS) immunologist Hyun Lillehoj has been working with colleagues in ARS and around the world to find dietary supplements that strengthen the poultry immune system.

Lillehoj, at the ARS Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., cooperated on the research with scientists at South Korea’s Gyeongsang National University College of Veterinary Medicine.

The researchers discovered that chickens that consumed ground green tea for two weeks prior to parasitic infection produced significantly fewer fecal E. maxima oocysts than a control group.

Chickens eating diets supplemented with Pediococcus-based probiotics were less likely to get parasites and experienced improved weight gain. Probiotics are health-promoting dietary supplements derived from live bacteria or yeasts.

Plum powder stimulated spleen immune cell production and killed tumor cells, according to the ARS researcehrs. Infected poultry fed the supplement also gained weight and reduced parasite shedding.

Supplements of safflower, which have been used by traditional Chinese practitioners for thousands of years, were found to be similarly beneficial.

• The Poultry Pantry (Agricultural Research Service)
• Husbandry