Milk Thistle

Silybum marianum

Other Names:

Mary Thistle, Holy Thistle, Lady's Thistle, Legalon, Marian Thistle, Mariendistel

Benefits

Antioxidant
Anti-inflammatory
Antitumor
Heptoprotective
Kidney-protection

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is a flowering herb known for its important medicinal properties. Mediterranean region. It has been used for thousands of years as a herbal remedy for a variety of ailments, particularly for the liver. The main chemical component in milk thistle is silymarin, a group of flavonoids (silibinin, silidianin, and silicristin), which are thought to help repair and protect liver cells. Silymarin is extracted from the seeds, which contain 70 to 80%. Specific applications relating to poultry include:

Protection from mycotoxins: Numerous studies conducted on chickens have demonstrated that milkthistle helps to protect birds against the negative effects of aflatoxin B1 and possibly ochratoxin A (OTA).

Poultry Specific Studies

Type	Plant Part	Dosage	Specific use	Results	Ref
Hens		200-400 mg/kg of diet	antioxidant	Improved, even not significantly, egg laying rate (+2.91%), feed conversion rate (-4.52%) and dry matter content (+0.54%). Moreover, it induced a significant increase (P<0.05) in total lipids (+0.72%) and total sterols levels (+0.02%) of the eggs. Any significant difference in eggs quality was found for Silymarin at the highest dose (400 mg/kg of feed).	A Quarantelli et al., 2009
Chickens	seed extract	0.5-1% diet	antioxidant, aflatoxicosis	can provide protection against the negative effects of aflatoxins in poultry feed.	H Amiridumari et al., 2013
Hens		400 mg/kg of feed		inhibited steroidogenesis	S Romanelli et al., 2016
Chickens			liver protection	silymarin is able to moderate the immune system, by boosting IL-4, IFN-?, and IL-10. The hepatoprotective effect of silymarin in poultry farming is poorly understood, although it may be used as a cheap, non-toxic and safe feed additive to manage liver related disorders and to replace synthetic drugs in poultry diets.	M Saeed et al., 2017
Broilers		1 to 100 mL/Kg of diet	liver protection	has potential to alleviate the adverse effects of oxidative stress	A Baradaran et al., 2019
Broilers		0.5%/kg feed		Minimized the adverse effects of toxins contaminated feed on the performance of broilers.	M Abdulwahid et al., 2021
Ducks		600 mg/kg of diet	liver protection, aflatoxicosis	Can be used to reverse the harmful effects of aflatoxins on hepatic and kidney tissue.	S El-Sheshtawy et al., 2021
Chickens		50-75 mg/kg PO q12h	antioxidant		Clinical Veterinary Advisor
Broilers	extract	up to 2.0 mg/kg body weight	blood parameters	increased the number of red blood cells, hemoglobin, white blood cells in the blood, as well as a decrease in the level of albumin and an increase in the content of ?-globulins in its serum.	O Bagno et al., 2021