Black Cumin

Nigella sativa

Other Names:

Black Seeds, Black Caraway, Black Onion Seed, Kalonji

Benefits

Antibacterial
Antioxidant
Antiviral
Antiseptic
Antifungal
Immunity
Antitumor
Hepatoprotective
Kidney-protection
Gastroprotective

Black cumin (Nigella sativa) is a widely used medicinal herb found worldwide. It is native to Southern Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia and it is cultivated in many countries in the world like Middle Eastern Mediterranean region, South Europe, India, Pakistan, Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia. Black cumin seeds contain a fatty oil rich in unsaturated fatty acids, mainly linoleic acid (50-60%), oleic acid (20%), eicodadienoic acid (3%) and dihomolinoleic acid (10%). Specific applications studied in poultry include:

Egg Quality: Black cumin at the level of 2 or 3% positively influenced egg production, egg weight, and shell quality and decreased the concentration of cholesterol in the egg yolk.
Antibacterial: Adding 2% black cumin seeds to the diet of laying hens can decrease Escherichia coli counts.
Antiviral: Black cumin extract can inhibit Infectious Bronchitis virus at an early point in infection, probably by rendering the virus non-infectious.

Poultry Specific Studies

Type	Plant Part	Dosage	Specific use	Results	Ref
Chickens	meal	10% of diet	gut microbiota	beneficial in inhibiting pathogenic microbes during early post-hatch days.	A Zaazaa et al., 2022
Quail	seed powder	1-2% of feed	antioxidant	had a positive influence on the quail growth, lipid profile, antioxidant, immunity, meat storage quality, pH, and decrease in pathogenic bacteria content.	M Asghar et al., 2022
Broilers	seeds	2 to 300 mg/kg of feed	aflatoxicosis	when combined with thymoquinone, enhanced AF detoxification via the AFAR pathway, by increasing AKR7A2 and Nrf2 levels, in addition to reducing hepatocyte apoptosis.	M Ates et al., 2021
Broilers	powdered seeds	10g/kg of diet	immunity	Decreased abdominal fat and ileal Escherichia coli.	V Laudadio et a., 2020
Chickens		1% of diet	antifungal	can help alleviate the negative effects of aflatoxins in diet.	S Abosaleh et al., 2019
Hens	oil	3% diet	antibacterial	reduced the number of thrombocytes and neutrophils and increased lymphocytes in broilers, reduced gut Escherichia coli count.	A Seidavi et al., 2020
Broilers	seed powder	2% of diet	antibacterial	acts as an immune enhancer in broilers against Pasteurella multocida.	M Raheem et al., 2021
Broilers	seed powder	1-1.4% of diet	immunity	enhanced immune responsiveness in broiler chickens	S Al-Mufarrej et al., 2014
Broilers	seeds	20 g/kg of diet	immunity	improved plasma lipid profile and antibody-mediated immunity	H Ghasemi et al., 2014
Hens	seeds	4% or 5% of diet	immunity	positively influenced egg production, egg weight and shell quality. Furthermore, it decreased the concentration of serum LDL cholesterol and egg yolk cholesterol concentrations and enhanced immunity against Newcastle disease virus.	SH Khan et al., 2013
Hens	seeds	2% of diet	GI health	decreased the enumeration of ileal E. coli and morphological and histological alterations in small intestine such as enhancement of villus height to crypt depth ratio, increased goblet cell numbers and proliferation of lamina propria lymphatic follicles.	J Boka et al., 2013
Hens	seeds	2-3% of diet	egg production	increased shell strength of eggs.	R Aydin et al., 2008