Nutritional characterization of some natural plants used in poultry nutrition

Current nutritional strategies of livestock industry are focused on evaluating the effects of terrestrial sources rich in natural bioactive compounds that can be used in farm animal feed and the subsequent implications on the quality of resulting animal products. In this context, the present study aimed to characterize from a nutritional point of view some natural plants used as phyto-additives in poultry nutrition: oregano, mint, basil, sage, fenugreek, thyme, turmeric, cumin and rosemary. The results of this study on plants nutritional evaluation showed a varied proximate analysis. Of all the plants, cumin, fenugreek and basil were the richest source of crude protein. Thyme had a large ether extractives content, followed by rosemary, sage and cumin. The obtained results revealed that oregano has the strongest antioxidant capacity (849.77 mmols equiv. asc. acid; 863.57 mmols equiv. vit. E), the highest total polyphenols concentration (86.77 mg GAE/g) and lutein and zeaxanthin (304.23 μg/g) of the analysed plants. Nevertheless, all plants had high concentration of total polyphenols, except cumin, a large amount of xanthophylls and vitamin E. After oregano, sage and thyme have been noted for their antioxidant capacity and major antioxidant compounds. Basil and sage revealed the highest amount of essential trace elements.