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Animals
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Herbal Extracts and Herbal-Derived Products to Support Animal Health and...
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Herbal Extracts and Herbal-Derived Products to Support Animal Health and Productivity

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal System and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 July 2025 | Viewed by 2073

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Mihaela Niculae

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Guest Editor
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Interests: antimicrobial assays; biological activities of natural products; herbal extracts; antimicrobial resistance; zoonotic bacteria
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Daniela Hanganu

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Guest Editor
Faculty of Pharmacy, Iuliu Hațieganu Medicine and Pharmacy University, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Interests: phytochemistry; biological activities of plant-origin bioactive compounds; chromatography
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Daniela Neagu

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Guest Editor
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Interests: veterinary internal medicine; clinical laboratory; biochemistry; endocrinology; neurology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Herbal extracts (HE) and herbal-derived products (HP) are increasingly promoted in veterinary medicine for their multiple beneficial properties, namely antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, immunomodulating, nephroprotective, hepatoprotective, etc. Of note, preserving animal health status, supporting and augmenting productivity, boosting the immune system’s functionality, and providing feasible alternatives to conventional medications in disease management are listed among the major outcomes associated with HP.

The available literature underlines the advantages of HE and HP compared to classical drugs. These aspects are relevant, but not sufficient alone. Comprehensive and multidisciplinary research is needed to gain further insights into the positive impact of HE and HP on animal health and productivity.

Based on these premises, this Special Issue welcomes original research articles and review papers that present ethnoveterinary data and in vitro and/or in vivo evaluations of plant metabolites, standardized herbal extracts (HE), and herbal-derived products (HP); research should focus on their potential use as feed additives, growth promoters, and alternative and complementary medicines in livestock and small animals.

Dr. Mihaela Niculae
Dr. Daniela Hanganu
Dr. Daniela Neagu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • natural products
  • bioactive compounds
  • phytoconstituents
  • biological properties
  • in vitro screening
  • in vivo evaluation
  • animal health
  • animal production

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 3421 KiB  
Article
Dietary Tributyrin Improves Growth Performance, Meat Quality, Muscle Oxidative Status, and Gut Microbiota in Taihe Silky Fowls under Cyclic Heat Stress
by Chuanbin Chen, Mingren Qu, Guanhong Li, Gen Wan, Ping Liu, Salma Mbarouk Omar, Wenliang Mei, Ziyu Hu, Qian Zhou and Lanjiao Xu
Animals 2024, 14(20), 3041; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14203041 - 21 Oct 2024
Viewed by 707
Abstract
Heat stress adversely affects poultry production and meat quality, leading to economic losses. This study aimed to investigate the effects of adding tributyrin on growth performance, meat quality, muscle oxidative status, and gut microbiota of Taihe silky fowls under cyclic heat stress (CHS) [...] Read more.
Heat stress adversely affects poultry production and meat quality, leading to economic losses. This study aimed to investigate the effects of adding tributyrin on growth performance, meat quality, muscle oxidative status, and gut microbiota of Taihe silky fowls under cyclic heat stress (CHS) conditions. In this study, 120-day-old Taihe silky fowls (male) were randomly divided into six dietary treatments. These treatments included a normal control treatment (NC, fed a basal diet), a heat stress control treatment (HS, fed a basal diet), and HS control treatments supplemented with 0.04%, 0.08%, 0.16%, and 0.32% tributyrin, respectively. The NC treatment group was kept at 24 ± 1 °C, while the HS treatment birds were exposed to 34 ± 1 °C for 8 h/d for 4 weeks. Results showed that CHS decreased growth performance and compromised the meat quality of broilers (p < 0.05). However, tributyrin supplementation improved ADG and FCR in broilers exposed to CHS (p < 0.05). Additionally, tributyrin supplementation resulted in increased shear force value and GSH-Px activity, as well as a decrease in drip loss, ether extract content, and MDA content of the breast muscle in broilers under CHS (p < 0.05). Furthermore, tributyrin supplementation up-regulated the mRNA expressions of Nrf2, NQO1, HO-1, SOD, and GSH-Px of the breast muscle in broilers exposed to CHS (p < 0.05). Based on these positive effects, the study delved deeper to investigate the impact of 0.16% tributyrin supplementation (HS + 0.16%T) on the cecum microbiota. The HS + 0.16%T treatment showed an increase in the relative abundance of Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group (p < 0.05) and a trend towards an increase in Lactobacillus (p = 0.096) compared to the HS treatment. The results indicate that supplementation successfully improved the growth performance and meat quality of Taihe silky fowls. Furthermore, tributyrin supplementation, particularly at levels of 0.16%, improved meat quality by enhancing muscle antioxidant capacity, which is believed to be associated with activation of the Nrf2 signaling pathway. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Herbal Extracts and Herbal-Derived Products to Support Animal Health and Productivity)
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14 pages, 1280 KiB  
Article
Insight into the Gut–Brain Axis and the Productive Performance and Egg Quality Response to Kudzu Leaf Flavonoid Supplementation in Late-Laying Hens
by Shi Tang, Yaodong Hu, Jiahui Luo, Meijun Hu, Maolin Chen, Dehan Ye, Jingsong Ye and Fuguang Xue
Animals 2024, 14(19), 2780; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14192780 - 26 Sep 2024
Viewed by 827
Abstract
(1) Background: Improving feed efficiency and the vitality of the reproductive system in the late stage of the egg-laying period is of great significance for prolonging the egg-laying cycle and improving egg quality. In the present study, a new flavonoid, which was extracted [...] Read more.
(1) Background: Improving feed efficiency and the vitality of the reproductive system in the late stage of the egg-laying period is of great significance for prolonging the egg-laying cycle and improving egg quality. In the present study, a new flavonoid, which was extracted from kudzu leaf, was chosen to investigate its effects on the productive performance and egg quality of late-laying hens. (2) Methods: A total of 360 500-day-old Hy-Line Brown layer hens were randomly divided into a control treatment group (no KLF supplementation), and groups that received 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8%, and 1.0% KLF supplement treatments. Each treatment contained 6 replicates, with 10 hens in each replicate. Productive performance metrics, including the daily egg production, egg weight, the number of deformed eggs, egg quality, egg density, egg shape index, eggshell strength, yolk color, and the Haugh unit, were meticulously recorded for each replicate. Furthermore, microbial communities and hypothalamus gene expressions were investigated based on the results of the productive performance and egg quality. (3) Results: KLF supplementation significantly decreased the deformity rate while significantly increasing the eggshell strength in the finishing phase afterward (p < 0.05). Specifically, hens supplemented with 0.6% KLF possessed the lowest deformed egg rate. KLF supplementation significantly increased the relative abundances of Bifidobacterium sp., Blautia sp., Lactococcus sp., and Lactobacillus sp., while significantly decreasing Parasutterella sp. and Escherichia-Shigella sp. (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the interactive analysis showed the hypothalamus gene expression mainly interacted with probiotics, such as Bifidobacterium sp. and Lactobacillus sp., through ribosome biogenesis, nucleocytoplasmic transport, and cAMP signaling pathways. (4) Conclusions: The findings of the present study indicate that KLF supplementation significantly proliferated probiotics, such as Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, which may have further interacted with hypothalamus genes, thus decreasing the deformity rate while increasing eggshell strength in the finishing phase. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Herbal Extracts and Herbal-Derived Products to Support Animal Health and Productivity)
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