Herbal and bee products as nutraceuticals for improving poultry health and production

SUMMARY We began gathering sources for this article in 2020 and began writing it as an important topic in the poultry field that provides an overview of the benefits of using herbal and bee products as nutraceuticals for improving poultry health and production, as well as encourages breeders and producers to use them instead of antibiotics for more healthy and safe products. The quality and safety attributes of poultry products have been attracting increasing attention and interest from the scientific communities as well as the public worldwide. Recently, nutraceuticals, as natural and safe alternatives to synthetic and artificial chemical drugs such as antibiotics, are used in several poultry farms (˃65%) for producing organic products (0% drugs). Nutraceuticals, such as organic acids (amino acids and fatty acids), herbal products (black cumin and fenugreek), and honeybee products (bee pollen and bee venom), are natural substances. They were added to poultry diets (1–3%) as a source of nutrition and to provide health benefits for birds. In addition, they have several biological functions in the bird’s body and may help birds to enhance their well-being. These supplements can increase the body weight of broilers and the egg production of hens by approximately 7% and 10%, respectively, as well as, enhance meat and eggs quality (˃30%). Moreover, they can improve the semen quality of roosters (ejaculate volume, advanced motility, live sperms, concentrate per ejaculate) by an average of 25%. Previous literature on the main biological activities performed by nutraceuticals has shown that most studies have only focused on the concept of using nutraceuticals as growth promoters, anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial agents. In the current review, critical effects/functions of the use of nutraceuticals, as natural and safe alternative feed additives in poultry farms, such as antioxidants, sexual-stimulants, immuno-stimulants, and for producing healthy products were discussed.