RU2848312C1 - Plant-based feed additive for broiler chickens with phytobiotic action - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: agriculture.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to fodder production, in particular, to a fodder additive with phytobiotic activity that may be used as a part of broiler chicken fodder. Additive contains a mixture of holy thistle and nigella at ratio of 1:1.

EFFECT: additive ensures enhancement of meat productivity indices and broiler chickens preservation, fodder consumption reduction combined with live weight increase and the product high quality preservation.

1 cl, 2 dwg, 9 tbl

Description

The invention relates to feed production, namely to a feed additive with phytobiotic activity, which can be used in feed for broiler chickens.

A conducted patent and information search revealed a feed additive with phytobiotic activity on a mineral basis (RU Patent No. 2569018, MPKA23K1/16;A23K1/175), used in the composition of feed for farm animals and poultry, characterized in that it contains a mixture of essential oils of eucalyptus, thyme, garlic and lemon in a ratio of 1:2:1:2, respectively, applied to diatomite in the form of burnt crumbs in a ratio of 1:10 and dried to obtain a dry concentrate of a mixture of essential oils in the form of powder, as well as a filler, which is diatomite in the form of burnt crumbs, while the components of the feed additive are taken in the following quantities, g: dry concentrate of a mixture of essential oils of eucalyptus, thyme, garlic and lemon in the form of powder - 40-180; filler - 960-820, feed additive in the feed composition is taken at a ratio of 0.001:1.

The problem set forth in the invention is solved in a plant-based phytobiotic feed additive with antimicrobial activity and an anti-inflammatory effect, containing a mixture of milk thistle and nigella in a 1:1 ratio, respectively, with the additive being introduced into the feed at a ratio of 0.02:1, providing an immunomodulatory and antioxidant effect.

The technical result of the present invention consists in providing an immunomodulatory and antioxidant effect, antimicrobial activity and an anti-inflammatory effect due to the introduction of a herbal mixture of milk thistle and nigella.

According to the invention, this problem is solved by using a plant-based feed additive with phytobiotic activity as part of feed for broiler chickens.

The feed supplement contains a mixture of milk thistle and nigella in a 1:1 ratio.

Dry concentrate of milk thistle and nigella mixture in the feed is taken at a ratio of 0.02:1.

By implementing the distinctive features of the invention (in combination with the features specified in the limiting part of the formula), important new properties of the object are achieved.

The discovery of a mixture of plant components of milk thistle and nigella with an immunomodulatory effect and the use of a concentrate of this mixture in powder form make it possible to obtain a new feed supplement with high phytobiotic activity.

A feed additive with phytobiotic activity is used in broiler feed. Figures 1 and 2 show the appearance of the phytobiotic additive.

Current trends in agricultural intensification require maximizing the productivity potential of farm animals, necessitating the use of complete feed rations, with a special emphasis on biologically active supplements that enhance productivity and normalize homeostasis. At the same time, the widespread use of antibiotics, which have adverse effects on living organisms, is a pressing concern. The use of such drugs is justified by the need to treat and prevent diseases associated with the care and feeding practices of farm animals and poultry. However, this does not reduce, but rather increases, the negative impact on human health when these substances are ingested through food.

The above defines the challenge facing the modern agricultural sector: providing the population with high-quality, affordable food products. Poultry farming, in particular, holds the most promising role, as one of the most dynamically developing agricultural sectors in recent years.

Phytobiotics are biologically active substances of plant origin that possess a range of bioactive properties, including antimicrobial, antiviral, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties. The sources of biologically active compounds (phenols and flavonoids) are herbs and their derivatives (spices, essential oils, and plant extracts).

Phytobiotics are unique in that they can replace antibiotic growth promoters in livestock and poultry farming. The search for alternatives to antibiotics is a promising area of agriculture today. The World Health Organization recommends eliminating antibiotics from feed.

The advantages of phytobiotic products include their natural origin, increased digestibility by the animal's body, low toxicity, and lack of side effects. Another advantage of phytobiotics is their relatively low cost.

Herbs and their extracts (plant substances) have a wide spectrum of activity that stimulate endogenous secretion or have antimicrobial, coccidiostatic, or anthelmintic activity.

Herbal extracts include a wide range of herbs, spices, and essential oils. Extracts and organic acids stimulate feed intake, endogenous secretion production, and nutrient absorption, protect against the colonization of pathogenic microorganisms in animal intestines, reduce fermentation and the production of toxic metabolites, and have a beneficial effect on the intestinal microbiota. Phytobiotic supplements can induce positive changes in intestinal morphology, such as villi elongation or intestinal crypt deepening, leading to an increased surface area for nutrient absorption. Herbal extracts are relatively non-toxic and cost-effective. Therefore, they have found use as feed additives for cattle, sheep, goats, horses, fur animals, birds, and even fish.

The use of plant components in livestock farming (plant parts, essential oils, extracts) has been shown to increase feed conversion, improve overall performance, and have an immunostimulatory effect. The addition of phytobiotics increases the secretion and activity of digestive enzymes, speeds digestion, and stimulates pancreatic and liver function. Research has shown that essential oils and plant extracts fed to broilers stimulate the secretion of amylase, maltase, trypsin, and pancreatic lipase. Adding cinnamon-derived essential oil to chicken diets improves live weight gain, broiler health, and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Adding garlic or turmeric powder to chicken diets improves broiler growth and FCR and reduces mortality.

Thus, the use of phytobiotics is particularly relevant in the context of global sanctions, as the lion's share of biologically active feed additives is imported. In this situation, the need to utilize the potential of domestic resources and technologies in the field of nutrition is urgently needed. The prospect of wider use of phytobiotics for animals and poultry will ultimately allow for the complete replacement of antibiotics in feed additives, thereby producing livestock products free of antibiotic residues.

The range of phytobiotics that have the potential to improve the nutritional and feed quality of feed mixtures (including for poultry) is quite broad, but has been poorly studied. However, the evolving situation in modern agriculture urgently requires this type of research to maximize practical knowledge that can quickly increase productivity and high-quality products. This should meet the population's ever-growing demands for high-quality and safe nutrition.

Among the potentially interesting phytobiotics being studied at the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution RosNIISK "Rossorgo," a special place is currently given to essential oil crops such as two species of nigella (sativa, damascena) and milk thistle.

The genus Nigella (Nigella L.) belongs to the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae Juss.), and has about 20 species, distributed mainly in the countries of Eastern and Southern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia [1]. The most common species are Nigella damascena L. and Nigella sativa L. These species, possessing a wide range of economically useful properties, are of great importance as medicinal, spicy-aromatic in the food industry, essential oil plants in the field of medicine, in ornamental gardening, and also in animal and poultry feeding.

Milk thistle (Silybum mariamum (L.) Gaertn.) of the Asteraceae family is widely used in the Russian Federation. The fruits of this plant are included in the State Pharmacopoeia of the Russian Federation as medicinal plant material. It is widely used in medicine as a source of hepatoprotective and antioxidant oral medications. This broad spectrum of activity is due to the valuable flavonolignan complex (silymarin) found in milk thistle fruits, which provides hepatoprotective properties, as well as anti-inflammatory, anti-sclerotic, anti-fibrotic, and anti-tumor effects.

Milk thistle is characterized by high biological plasticity and adaptability, it perfectly combines high productivity with excellent environmental sustainability, rationally utilizes the agroclimatic conditions of the zone, and has sustainable seed production.

The results of studies of the biochemical composition of the above-mentioned essential oil crops are shown in Table No. 9.

Among the main chemical components of the studied crops, fat stands out (26.68–43.07%), with nigella having an advantage in this regard. Milk thistle also has a significantly higher fiber content than nigella, with an average value of 18.7%. The mineral content of the presented phytobiotics ranges from 4.7–6.6%. A significant portion of the biologically active substances is found in the nitrogen-free extractives (NFES) fraction, which is found at a high level (from 28 to 34%).

These indicators characterize these plants as promising phytobiotic components in terms of further practical application in feed production and require further study of their components, biological activity and effectiveness.

It is imperative to note that the effects of milk thistle and nigella as a complex phytobiotic component in poultry feed (specifically, broiler chickens) are being actively studied at the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution of the Russian Research Institute of Stock Breeding "Rossorgo." When studying the effects of this component, the birds were fed balanced feed mixtures appropriate for their age. In the experimental groups, part of the basic diet was replaced with ground phytobiotic herb seeds.

The duration of the experiment was 48 days.

Throughout the experiment, live weight gain, feed consumption, and feed costs per 1 kg of live weight gain were taken into account.

The results of studies on the morphological and biochemical characteristics of blood revealed that the data for all groups of chickens were within the physiological norm. The group of chickens whose main diet included a mixture of nigella and milk thistle demonstrated an advantage over the control group in such parameters as the number of red blood cells (by 7%, P≤0.01) and the hemoglobin level (by 5%, P≤0.05). Furthermore, the use of this complex supplement revealed an increase in the content of total protein in the birds' blood by 9%, creatinine by 27%, and urea in the blood serum by 16%, indicating an intensification of protein metabolism, which will ultimately have a positive effect on the productivity of the birds. A decrease in the activity of aspartate aminotransferase by 3% and alanine aminotransferase by 9% was also noted. This indirectly indicates the hepatoprotective nature of the action of the used phytobiotics.

Significant differences were found in parameters characterizing protein metabolism and aminotransferase enzymes. Total protein levels in the blood of birds in the experimental groups were 9% higher than in the control group (P≤0.05). A similar pattern was observed for serum creatinine (27%) and urea (16%).

At day one of the experiment, live weight of broiler chickens within and between groups showed no significant differences, ranging from 41.1 to 44.2 g. At 8 days of age, the control group showed the greatest increase in live weight compared to the experimental group: 12.4%, respectively. By day 20 of the experiment, this trend persisted, with live weight gain in the control group exceeding that of the experimental group. At 30 days of age, the experimental group of chickens (680 g) demonstrated the greatest weight gain, exceeding that of the control group by within 1%.

The feed consumption of birds, and consequently its conversion, depended on the nature of the feed additive.

Throughout the experiment, feed consumption in the control group exceeded that in the experimental group by 11%. By the end of the experiment, the control group consumed the most feed. This figure was 14% lower in the experimental group (where the broilers consumed a mixture of nigella and milk thistle along with the base feed) than in the control group. The results indicate that the chickens' live weight gain was not dependent on feed intake, but rather was related to the specific phytobiotic herbs included in the diet.

At the same time, experience has shown the positive effect of certain phytobiotic feed additives on feed conversion (an indicator that characterizes the efficiency of poultry feeding and reflects the amount of feed spent per unit of production growth).

The data from the experiment are presented in Table No. 1.

Biochemical parameters of blood of broiler chickens n=10 are given in Table No. 2. Average feed consumption per 1 head, g. is given in Table No. 3.

The feed conversion ratio is given in Table No. 4. The productivity of broiler chickens, n=10 is given in Table No. 5. The meat qualities of broilers, n=10 are given in Table No. 6. The biochemical composition of milk thistle seeds, variety Amulet, is given in Table No. 7. The biochemical composition of nigella, % is given in Table No. 8.

Overall, feed conversion data showed a trend towards lower costs per unit of live weight gain with the addition of a nigella-milk thistle mixture to the diet, and the feed efficiency ratio in this case was more advantageous.

This indicates that the introduction of a phytobiotic supplement in such a formulation into the diet of broiler chickens helps to reduce feed costs per 1 kg of gain.

The use of phytogenics as a feed additive plays a crucial role not only in maintaining normal physiological condition but also in maximizing the poultry's performance. For example, experimentally determined that the use of nigella and milk thistle as additives resulted in a 7.6% increase in average carcass weight with giblets compared to control values, resulting in a slaughter yield of 84.7%.

After slaughter, broilers from the experimental groups had, on average, the largest carcass weight: 2.2% more than in the control, as well as the highest yield of this product by 5.6 abs.%.

The maximum yield of stomach production in broilers of the experimental group is 0.2 abs.% higher than in the control.

The technological process for preparing nutritious compound feed for broiler chickens is as follows: feed grains of standard moisture content are ground to the required particle size of the ingredients, up to 2 mm. According to the recipe, the ingredients are mixed until smooth, eliminating any hard lumps.

The feed additive is added to the feed at a ratio of 0.02:1. The ratio of the direct components of the additive is 1:1 (nigella and milk thistle).

The amount of feed additive in the feed is balanced and confirmed experimentally.

The prepared feed is dispensed into feeders based on the required quantity and age of the birds. The feed color should be gray to brown, matching the color of the ingredients in the recipe. The feed odor should not be musty, moldy, or otherwise off-color.

Tests of broiler chicken feed production were conducted at the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution Rossorgo Research Institute of Stock Breeding. The results showed that the feed, which can be included in the diet of broiler chickens, is balanced in all essential nutrients and has good energy values.

Claims (1)

A plant-based phytobiotic feed supplement for broiler chickens containing ground milk thistle seeds, which is distinguished by the fact that it additionally contains ground nigella seeds, with the components taken in a 1:1 ratio.