Effect of Silybum marianum herb on the productive performance, carcass traits and meat quality of growing rabbits

The effects of herbal plant extract on the growth performance, blood parameters, nutrient digestibility and carcase quality of rabbits: A meta-analysis

A meta-analysis was conducted to determine the effects of herbal plant extracts on the growth performance, blood parameters, nutrient digestibility and carcase quality of farmed rabbits. A dataset was created from 33 in vivo studies comprising 121 experimental units. Statistical meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model and linear-mixed model meta-regression using R software (v. 4.3.0). Our results showed that although supplemental herbs did not affect average daily gain (ADG) and final body weight (BW), they reduced (P < 0.01) feed conversion ratio and mortality and increased the digestibility of dry matter (DM) (P = 0.014) and crude protein (CP) (P = 0.018). The herbal extracts also increased (P = 0.037) blood high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and decreased (P = 0.004) low-density lipoprotein (LDL). Immunoglobulin M (IgM) was elevated (P = 0.009) by herbal plant extract supplementation, although most blood components were unaffected. The inclusion of herbal plant extract up to 300 g/kg increased (P = 0.011) carcase percentage while the weight and percentage of other organs were unaffected. Subgroup meta-analysis further explained the different effect of the type of herbal plant extract. Moringa, olive oil, and pepper were more favourable to increase final BW compared to the other herbs. Interestingly, the majority of herbs showed efficacy in reducing mortality. A majority of the response variables in our meta-analysis showed no dose-response effect except for ADG, mortality, HDL, and LDL which were improved by herbs supplementation. The evidence from the perspective of both meta-analysis and meta-regression shows that the addition of herbs tends to positively affect the parameters for production performance and blood metabolites in farmed rabbits.

Supplemental impact of silymarin in growing pig diet on the growth performance, total tract digestibility, faecal microflora, faecal noxious gas emission and absorption rate in blood

The research was done to examine the impact of dietary silymarin on growth performance, total tract digestibility, faecal microbial, faecal gas emission and absorption rate in blood of growing pigs. Experiment 1: a total of 140 growing pigs (24.47 ± 2.49 kg) were used in a 6-week trial. There were four dietary treatment groups (seven replicate pens/treatment, five pigs/pen) and treatment diets composed of corn, soybean meal (SBM), distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), and rapeseed meal-based basal diets with 0%, 0.025%, 0.050% and 0.10% of micelle silymarin respectively. Experiment 2: A total of 18 pigs were divided into six treatment groups. Treatment diets: TRT1, TRT2 and TRT3 were basal diets with 30, 150 and 300 g powdered silymarin respectively; and TRT4, TRT5 and TRT6 were basal diets with 30, 150 and 300 g micelle-type silymarin respectively. Average daily gain (ADG) tended to increase (p < 0.10) at Week 3 and overall experiment after silymarin addition. Overall ADG and average daily feed intake are also intended to improve (p < 0.10) linearly in this study. During Week 6, growing pigs fed silymarin showed linearly increased (p < 0.05) apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter, nitrogen and energy. Dietary silymarin supplementation increased (p < 0.10) linearly the faecal Lactobacillus count at Week 3 while Escherichia coli count was linearly decreased at both the 3rd week (p < 0.05) and 6th week (p < 0.10). Silymarin supplementation showed no effect on faecal gas emissions. A higher (p < 0.05) absorption rate in the blood was found in micelle-type silymarin compared to powdered silymarin after the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 8th, 12th and 24th h of feeding. Results suggest that silymarin in a corn-SBM-DDGS-rapeseed meal-based diet may help to improve ADG, FI, ATTD and faecal microflora in growing pigs. And absorption rate in the blood of pig is higher in micelle-type silymarin.

Use of Milk Thistle in Farm and Companion Animals: A Review

Milk thistle, Silybum marianum, is a medicinal plant grown for its bioactive compounds with well-documented antioxidant and hepatoprotective properties. Milk thistle has a well-established pharmacological reputation for treatments of human liver disease, but it is also used in animals. This review summarizes the experimental evidence of milk thistle's effects on animals when administered as silymarin extract (feed additive) or a feed ingredient, if administered as seed or expeller/cake with the seed residue still containing the bioactive components. The use as a feed additive or feed ingredient is motivated by the complexity of silymarin registration as a veterinary drug. In farm animals, the drug improves the animals' performance and product quality and oxidative stability, supports liver function during the productive life-cycle, improves gut-health and morphology, and can reduce intestinal pathogens. In dogs and cats, the treatment is focused on acute and chronic liver diseases including the detoxification processes and support of drug treatments including chemotherapy. In equine athletes, milk seed cake showed positive effects and a faster return of cortisol to the resting values before exercise occurred. In aquaculture, it confirms its usefulness in supporting animal health and performance. In certain studies it is not clear what has been administered, and the composition and doses are not always clearly reported. A few studies reported no effects, but none reported problems connected to milk thistle administration. However, the overall picture shows that the use of milk thistle results in improved or restored health parameters or better animal performance.

Effect of Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum) Supplementation on Pork Offal Quality

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of milk thistle supplementation of fattener pig feeds on physical and chemical properties of pork offal. The experiments were conducted on 60 fatteners (group C—control (30 pigs) and group E—experimental (30 pigs)). The experimental group was supplemented with ground milk thistle (Silybum marianum) at 7 g/kg feed. The offal (tongues, kidneys, hearts, lungs and livers) was analyzed for weight, pH, WHC, water, protein, fat, energy value, fatty acid profile and content of major and trace elements. The present study shows that milk thistle added to fattener pig diets increased pH45 and pH24 values in most of the analyzed offal and significantly (p ≤ 0.01) decreased the weight of heart and lungs and increased the weight of liver and kidneys. Hearts, lungs and kidneys of the experimental group contained more fat and the liver less, than the same offal of the control group. As regards the content of elements, the dietary supplement most often had an effect on the heart and lungs. In general, milk thistle supplemented in fattener diets had modified the physical parameters and chemical composition of the analyzed products.

Influence of milk thistle pressed parts on rats liver histology

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is one of the best known and very often used herbs with positive effect on liver. The aim of this article was to study influence of addition of milk thistle pressed parts in feed ration on liver histology and weight increase of laboratory rats. The experiment was tested by 15 pieces of laboratory rats divided into 3 groups (A, B, C). The rats in first group (A) hade feed ration with addition of 10% milk thistle pressed parts, second group (B) hade feed ration with 20% and control group (C) hade feed ration without addition of milk thistle pressed parts. The silymarin content of pressed milk thistle seed was 26.2 mg/g. The aim of this article is to study influence of addition of milk thistle pressed parts in feed ration on liver histology and weight increase of laboratory rats. The hypothesis is that the feeding addition - milk thistle seed pressed parts has positive effect on weight performance and liver histology. Does the feeding addition have any effect on these health indicators? Does feeding of milk thistle seed pressed parts have any sense? In results, the groups with addition of milk thistle had significant bigger average gain increases than the control group. Histological results vary considerably among groups of rats. All rats in the control group had dystrophic liver with sinusoidal congestion. In most rats of the group A, the dystrophy was minimal without congestion. On the other hand, most of rats of the group B had liver dystrophy caused by large droplets steatosis with congestion. All rats in control group C were found to have significant dystrophy caused by steatosis. The results indicate rats receiving the addition of milk thistle pressed parts in their feed had a lower incidence of liver steatosis due to the hepatoprotective effects of silymarin.