Yucca

Yucca schidigera is a medicinal plant native to southwestern United States and northern Mexico which has been used in traditional medicine by Native Americans to treat a variety of ailments. Yucca is one of the richest commercial sources of steroidal saponins and polyphenols such as resveratrol. Yucca is sold commercially as a dietary supplement for humans and animals in the form of a powder, extract, and juice. Some of the beneficial properties of yucca, specific to poultry include:

Antiprotozoal activity. Yucca is as effective as the anti-protozoal drug metronidazole in treating giardiasis and other protozoal diseases in which part of the life cycle occurs in the gastrointestinal tract. The anti-protozoal activity of Yucca is due to the saponins, which act by complexing with cholesterol in protozoal cell membranes, causing damage to the integrity of the membrane, and cell lysis.

There have been numerous studies on the anticoccidial properties related to adding yucca to the diet of chickens. When given as 250 mg/kg of the diet, yucca may influence the immune response of birds challenged with mixed Eimeria oocysts (M Oelschlager et al., 2019). Yucca supplementation helped promote regeneration and reconstitution of the intestinal mucosal layer within the GI tract of infected birds (M Oelschlager et al., 2019).

Ammonia reduction. Yucca can help reduce ammonia concentrations and odor in feces. Adding 100 ppm of yucca to the diet of laying hens, along with removing the manure every other day, helped reduce NH3 generat4ion and emission in laying hen barns (H Chepete et al., 2012).

Anti-arthritic. Yucca is commonly used as a dietary additive in horses, dogs, and humans for the treatment and prevention of arthritis.

Lowering blood cholesterol levels. Dietary yucca extract lowers total and LDL cholesterol levels in hypercholesterolemic humans

Antibacterial. The addition of 20 mg/kg Yucca extract to the diet of laying hens demonstrated positive effects on egg weight and feed efficiency, decreased the serum and yolk cholesterol concentration and reduced the proliferation of Escherichia coli (J Wang et al., 2010).

Nutritional. Yucca may aid in the digestion and absorption of vitamins and minerals in the GI tract.