Rosemary

Rosmarinus officinalis

Other Names:

Romero, Dew Of The Sea, Compass Plant, Compass Weed, Incensier, Polar Plant, Mi-tieh-hsiang

Benefits

Antioxidant
Antifungal
Antibacterial
Antitumor
Insect-repellent
Hepatoprotective

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a perennial woody evergreen herb native to the Mediterranean region. It has narrow, curved, fine needle-like leaves with a silver touch and pink, purple, white, or blue flowers. Rosemary is a common medicinal plant, known for its distinctive aroma and use in culinary dishes. The leaves from the rosemary plant are used for tinctures and infusions developed for traditional medicine and can used to prepare tea, essential oil, and liquid extract.

Specific applications relating to poultry keeping include:

Liver Protection: Adding rosemary to chickens' feed at 500ppm showed some benefit to chickens suffering from liver damage as a result of aflatoxicosis, due to ingestion of toxic molds, common in poor quality poultry feed.
Nutrition: According to the USDA, fresh rosemary has a very high reserve of vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin C, B vitamins, as well as minerals like magnesium, calcium, copper, iron, and manganese.
Neurological Protection: The carnosic acid in rosemary has neuroprotective properties. It helps to reduce oxidative stress and overstimulation in nerve cells, ultimately protecting the nervous system. It is also known to protect certain parts of the brain from tissue damage such as ischemic injury, heals nervous tissue, and reduce blood clots.
Antibacterial and Antimicrobial: Rosemary is specifically powerful against bacterial infections. It is linked to preventing Staphylococcus aureus infections (think bumblefoot prevention).

Poultry Specific Studies

Type	Plant Part	Dosage	Specific use	Results	Ref
Chickens	powder	1.0% diet	immunity	Interacted and modulated the humoral immunity of chickens, but did not sufficiently to improve antibody titers against specific virus.	H Rostami et al., 2018
Chickens	leaves powder extract	2.5-7.5 g/kg diet	fertility enhancement	Attenuated age-related sub-fertility in senescent roosters.	S Borghei-Rad et al., 2017
Chickens		1 g/kg diet	necrotic enteritis	Decreased BWG. Decreased FI.	J Carrasco et al., 2016

References

Abo Ghanima, Mahmoud M., et al. "Effect of housing system and rosemary and cinnamon essential oils on layers performance, egg quality, haematological traits, blood chemistry, immunity, and antioxidant" Animals 10.2 (2020)
Teymouri Zadeh, Zarir et al.. "Amelioration effects of n-3, n-6 sources of fatty acids and rosemary leaves powder on the semen parameters, reproductive hormones, and fatty acid analysis of sperm in aged Ross broiler breeder roosters " Poultry science vol. 99,2 (2020)
Rostami, Hossein et al.. "Supplementing dietary rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) powder and vitamin E in broiler chickens: evaluation of humoral immune response, lymphoid organs, and blood proteins " Environmental science and pollution research international vol. 25,9 (2018)
Mousavi, Asma et al.. "Efficacy of essential oils combination on performance, ileal bacterial counts, intestinal histology and immunocompetence of laying hens fed alternative lipid sources " Journal of animal physiology and animal nutrition vol. 102,5 (2018)
Soltani, M., Tabeidian, S. A., Ghalamkari, G., Adeljoo, A. H., Mohammadrezaei, M., & Fosoul, S. S. A. S. "Effect of dietary extract and dried areal parts of Rosmarinus officinalis on performance, immune responses and total serum antioxidant activity in broiler chicks" Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease (2016)
Císarová M, Taninová D, Medo J, Kaániová M.. "The in vitro effect of selected essential oils on the growth and mycotoxin production of Aspergillus species." J Environ Sci Health B. (2016)
Loetscher Y, Kreuzer M, Messikommer RE.. "Oxidative stability of the meat of broilers supplemented with rosemary leaves, rosehip fruits, chokeberry pomace, and entire nettle, and effects on pe" Poultry Science (2013)
Mathlouthi N, Bouzaienne T, Oueslati I, Recoquillay F, Hamdi M, Urdaci M, Bergaoui R.. "Use of rosemary, oregano, and a commercial blend of essential oils in broiler chickens: in vitro antimicrobial activities and effects on growth performance." Journal of Animal Science (2012)
Cross DE, McDevitt RM, Acamovic T. "Herbs, thyme essential oil and condensed tannin extracts as dietary supplements for broilers, and their effects on performance, digestibility, volatile fatty acids and organoleptic properties." British Poultry Science (2011)
Yesilbag D, Eren M, Agel H, Kovanlikaya A, Balci F.. "Effects of dietary rosemary, rosemary volatile oil and vitamin E on broiler performance, meat quality and serum SOD activity." British Poultry Science (2011)
Cross DE, McDevitt RM, Hillman K, Acamovic T. "The effect of herbs and their associated essential oils on performance, dietary digestibility and gut microflora in chickens from 7 to 28 days of age." British Poultry Science (2007)
Cross DE, Acamovic T, McDevitt RM.. "The productive performance of chicks from 0-21 days, when fed diets containing secondary plant compounds in the presence of an enzyme." British Poultry Science (2004)
Cross DE, McDevitt RM, Acamovic T.. "Phytochemicals in broiler diets and their effect on nutrient digestibility at 21 days of age." British Poultry Science (2004)

Rosemary

Rosmarinus officinalis

Other Names:

Benefits

Poultry Specific Studies

References

PoultryDVM.com

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