Chinese herbs rival antibiotics at fighting chicken gut germs
Medicinal Plants
The same antibiotic resistance crisis showing up in farm animals is a preview of what happens to soil and garden ecosystems when we over-rely on synthetic chemical fixes instead of plant-based ones.
Researchers tested extracts from four traditional Chinese medicinal plants against nasty gut bacteria that make chickens (and sometimes people) sick. Four plants, including one called Agrimonia pilosa, killed these germs within 30 minutes almost as well as antibiotics do. When added to chicken feed, two of the plants, Smilax glabra and Anemone chinensis, helped chickens grow better and had fewer harmful bacteria, performing about as well as the antibiotic amoxicillin.
Key Findings
Agrimonia pilosa, Smilax glabra, Anemone chinensis, and Iris domestica extracts showed broad-spectrum antibacterial activity, reducing pathogen levels by ≥99.9% within 0.5 hours, comparable to ampicillin (P<0.001)
In broiler chickens, Smilax glabra reduced E. coli and Campylobacter spp. on days 21 and 35 and increased beneficial lactic acid bacteria compared to antibiotic-treated birds (P<0.01)
Smilax glabra and Anemone chinensis significantly increased weight gain and improved feed conversion ratios compared to controls, matching results from the amoxicillin positive control group (P<0.001)
chevron_right Technical Summary
Chinese herbal plant extracts killed common poultry gut pathogens like E. coli and Salmonella as fast as antibiotics, and when fed to chickens, two of the extracts boosted growth and reduced harmful bacteria as well as amoxicillin did.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Effects of phytogenics on intestinal pathogenic bacteria and microbiota of non-ruminants
Increased levels of multi-drug resistant bacteria worldwide pose a significant threat to human and animal health. The recommendations in the WHO’s global action plan were to phase out and research ...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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Agrimonia pilosa also known as hairy agrimony, is a flowering plant in the family Rosaceae. It is distributed primarily over the Korean Peninsula, Japan, China, Siberia, and Eastern Europe.