Feed Additives

Aromatic Plants and Herbs in Animal Nutrition and Health

Panagiota Florou-Paneri, Efterpi Christaki, Ilias Giannenas

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780128147009
• eBook ISBN: 9780128147016
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Medical Microbiology & Parasitology

Feed Additives: Aromatic Plants and Herbs in Animal Nutrition and Health explores the use of aromatic plants and their extracts, including essential oils in animal nutrition. It provides details about the development of bacteria resistance to antibiotics. All chapters provide a holistic approach on how aromatic plants can provide an efficient solution to animal health, also covering the main categories of animals, including poultry, pigs, ruminants and aquaculture. This book represents an up-to-date review of the existing knowledge on aromatic plants, both in vitro and in vivo and the basis for future research.- Covers different categories of animals and novel feed trends with functional properties- Examines a variety of natural sources based on plant functional substances to promote antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory properties and digestive stimulations- Explores the chemistry and mechanism of action of plant extracts in animal nutrition- Includes sustainable solutions for the use of natural additives as growth promoters

Chapter 1

The history of herbs, medicinal and aromatic plants, and their extracts

Past, current situation and future perspectives

Ilias Giannenas ¹ , E. Sidiropoulou ¹ , Eleftherios Bonos ² , E. Christaki ¹ , and P. Florou-Paneri ^{1 1} Laboratory of Nutrition, School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece ² Department of Agriculture, School of Agriculture, University of Ioannina, Arta, Greece

Abstract

Aromatic plants, herbs, and their essential oils have been used in traditional medicine, food preparation, and preservation, religious observances and cosmetic purposes for thousands of years. Today, the use of plant extracts in feed additives, as sources of medicinal compounds, continues to grow, aiming to address the modern consumer's demands for natural, safe, and high-quality products. Thus, research on the use and efficacy of aromatic plants should continue to better understand any health benefits in animals and humans. Aromatic plants seem to fulfill the requirements of current demand and future developments in livestock nutrition. Due to lack or limited definitive classification or terminology of aromatic plants and herbs by the international scientific community, they are referred to with various names including medicinal plants, spices, extracts or essential oil plants.

Keywords

Aromatic plants; Essential oils; Feed additives; Food additives; Traditional medicine

1. Introduction
2. Worldwide use of aromatic plants throughout history
3. Current situation on the use of aromatic plants and herbs in human and veterinary medicine, plant sustainability, and safety issues
4. Future perspectives
5. References

Introduction

Aromatic plants and herbs have been widely used for medical purposes not only for humans but for animals as well. Medicinal plants are mainly considered those used in official and traditional medicine, whereas aromatic plants are those used for their aroma and flavor. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines as “herbal medicines” plant-derived materials or products with therapeutic or other human benefits, which contain either raw or processed ingredients from one or more plants (WHO, 2001). Other specific terms used for medicinal and aromatic plants are (Inoue and Craker, 2014; American Botanical Council, 2019):

• a) “herb or culinary herb” refers to any aromatic plant material from temperate regions, used in minor quantities to flavor foods and beverages, but has little or no known nutritional value,
• b) “spice” implies to an aromatic plant material from tropical regions used in minor quantities to flavor foods and beverages, but has little or no known nutritional value,
• c) “medicinal plant” describes various plants used for treatment of disease or other body afflictions,
• d) “essential oil” indicates that a volatile oil can be extracted from plants by distillation, solvents or expression,
• e) “poisonous plant” indicates to plants containing alkaloids or other substances that may produce toxic effects when introduced into the body.

The positive effects of aromatic plants, herbs, and their essential oils in various diseases have been evidenced throughout history (Zollman and Vickers, 1999; Giacometti et al., 2018; Oliveira et al., 2018). Aromatic plants and herbs are the first pharmacological compounds that have been used in ancient times to treat diseases or other abnormal conditions and even now are used in folk or as an ethno-type of medicine (Wesley Schultz, 2001; Giannenas, 2008; Christaki et al., 2012; Giannenas et al., 2013, 2018). Almost all ancient civilizations have demonstrated some evidence of awareness of plants' medicinal use. In ancient civilizations, indigenous people used aromatic plants and herbs to cure not only physical but also mental disorders. At that time, people believed that illness had a supernatural cause or emerged from evil. Therefore, healers were highly respected and played an important role in their communities (Voliotis, 1998; Kankara et al., 2015). Currently, in societies living in isolated, rural and mountainous areas with limited access to official health facilities, such as in developing countries, many physical and spiritual therapies are still relied upon and value the use of aromatic plants (Sen and Chakraborty, 2016; Solomou et al., 2016).

Herbal medicine constitutes the main type of traditional medicine, commonly practiced by traditional healers. The Chinese, Native American, Tibetan, and Indian Ayurvedic practitioners are valued not only in countries of origin but also in developed ones, such as the United States or Germany. Often, they use mixtures of unpurified plant extracts, claiming that these may work synergistically so that the effect of the whole herb is greater than the sum total of the effects of individual components. Even more, it is claimed that toxicity is reduced when whole herbs are used instead of isolated active ingredients (Zollman and Vickers, 1999). Similarly, the use of plant-based remedies in vet medicine has been related to traditional knowledge, depending on practical experience and observation being passed from generation to generation, both in verbal and writing form (WHO, 2001).

Since the 1990s, it was well understood that the use of drugs, especially antibiotics, as additives in animal feed, was gradually leading to antibiotic resistance of microbe pathogens. This phenomenon, along with concerns that the toxicity of many of these compounds were potentially entering the food chain, raised serious concerns regarding human health and safety (Dhama et al., 2015). According to WHO, this has been a major issue as the intensive use of certain antibiotics has been leading to infectious diseases, such as pneumonia or salmonellosis, being difficult to treat due to resistance of microbes (WHO, 2018). The European Union gradually started to phase out the use of antibiotics as growth promoters since 1998 and completely banned their use in 2006. In the United States, antibiotic growth promoter use is still allowed but major restrictions have also been applied following the demands of global market (Gaucher et al., 2015). Similarly, restrictions on the use of antibiotics have also been implemented in Asian countries such as Korea, Vietnam, and China, as well as in Australia, and even in Latin American countries (Hart et al., 2004; Suresh et al., 2018).

Currently, due to current restrictions on the use of antibiotics, especially as feed additives, there is a considerable rise on the use of aromatic plants, herbs and essential oils as alternative feed additives in animal nutrition (Franz et al., 2010; Stevanovic et al., 2018). Feed additives are considered any compounds or mixtures, added in animal feed to improve their health status, growth rate, productivity, and performance. Their characteristics may include specific positive effects such as enhancing digestibility, maintaining and stabilizing beneficial microflora in the gut, improving quality of products of animal origin and influencing positively the environment (Huyghebaert et al., 2011). Thus, a huge effort has been made to replace antimicrobial feed additives in animal nutrition with natural plant products that will have the same effect on their performance and health condition.

The aims of the current chapter are to present a review on the use of aromatic plants and herbs throughout antiquity, as well as current aspects and future perspectives on their traditional or modern application both in human and animal health.

Worldwide use of aromatic plants throughout history

It is rather difficult to claim when and where plants and herbs were used as medicines for first time, especially in prehistoric times (Fig. 1.1). It appears that the very first evidence of humans using plants occurred in a Neanderthal flower burial site in Northern Iraq, approximately 60,000 years ago, as the remains of a body were found surrounded by at least seven medicinal plants, including Ephedra (Solecki and Shanidar, 1975; Jamshidi-Kia et al., 2018). Based on historical reviews, other old references were evidenced by the writings of Zarathustra (1000–500 BCE), during the Aryan civilization of Iran, back in 6500 BCE. A good knowledge of various plants' medicinal properties was exhibited in Avesta, the holy book of Zoroastrianism (Jamshidi-Kia et al., 2018). The Sumerian civilization followed, presenting written formulas on clay stones, discovered around the Nagpur area, 5000 years ago (Kelly, 2009; Guidi and Landi, 2016). These formulas involved 12 plant prepar...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Contributors
• Preface
• Chapter 1. The history of herbs, medicinal and aromatic plants, and their extracts: Past, current situation and future perspectives
• Chapter 2. Innovative uses of aromatic plants as natural supplements in nutrition
• Chapter 3. Herbs and aromatic plants as feed additives: Aspects of composition, safety, and registration rules
• Chapter 4. Sustainable use of mediterranean medicinal-aromatic plants
• Chapter 5. Aromatic plants and their extracts pharmacokinetics and in vitro/in vivo mechanisms of action
• Chapter 6. Distribution of aromatic plants in the world and their properties
• Chapter 7. Herbal extracts as antiviral agents
• Chapter 8. Functional ingredients derived from aromatic plants
• Chapter 9. Toxic or harmful components of aromatic plants in animal nutrition
• Chapter 10. Application of aromatic plants and their extracts in diets of broiler chickens
• Chapter 11. Application of aromatic plants and their extracts in the diets of laying hens
• Chapter 12. Application of aromatic plants and their extracts in diets of turkeys
• Chapter 13. Application of plant essential oils in pig diets
• Chapter 14. Application of aromatic plants and their extracts in aquaculture
• Chapter 15. Application of aromatic plants and their extracts in dairy animals
• Chapter 16. The effects of aromatic plants and their extracts in food products
• Chapter 17. The effects of plant extracts on the immune system of livestock: The isoquinoline alkaloids model
• Chapter 18. Effects of phytobiotics in healthy or disease challenged animals
• Chapter 19. Resistance of bacteria, fungi, and parasites to antibiotics or natural substances of botanical origin
• Index