The application of antibiotics in the aquaculture industry has a history of decades, which has the effect of promoting the growth of animals and preventing diseases, and has made great contributions to the development of the aquaculture industry. However, antibiotics have long been used as growth-promoting feed additives to bring many side effects. For example, it can lead to the emergence of drug-resistant strains, imbalance of drug residues, and decreased animal immunity, which is more likely to cause superinfection or secondary infection. Therefore, the search for green feed additives that can replace antibiotics has become the focus of attention. Oregano oil is a volatile oil extracted from plant oregano. Oregano oil premix is a feed pharmaceutical additive approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and the only plant-derived pharmaceutical feed additive approved for application in mainland China. It has a good antibacterial and growth promotion effect, livestock and poultry eat oregano oil after eating the diet with oregano oil without drug residue, is an environmentally friendly, efficient and safe green feed additive, in animal husbandry production has broad development prospects.
Oregano oil is an essential oil extracted from the flowers and leaves of the plant oregano. Oregano, also known as antidiarrheal grass, earth aromatic, small-leaf peppermint and ox's snoop, is a perennial herb of the genus Oregano in the family Lamiaceae, which is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine with the functions of relieving heat, relieving pain, relieving nausea and diarrhea. Oregano has a wide range of applications, not only used in animal husbandry production, but also widely used in food, medicine and other industries. For a long time, Europe and the United States have used it as an antibacterial and preservative preservative for food.
Antibacterial and bactericidal effect: oregano oil has a strong antibacterial and bactericidal effect, and has a wide antibacterial spectrum. Foreign literature has reported that oregano oil can inhibit the growth of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella and Listeria bacteria, and even when diluted 4000~5000 times, it can still significantly inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria. There are also domestic literature reports that different concentrations of oregano oil have different degrees of bactericidal and bacteriostatic effects on 31 strains of common enterogenic Salmonella species, Escherichia coli and staphylococcus species. In addition, oregano oil also has an inhibitory effect on fungi.
Promote animal growth: oregano oil has an aromatic smell, which can stimulate the appetite of animals, stimulate digestive tract receptors, activate digestive enzymes through the information feedback system, change the viscosity of chyme, and promote the full absorption of nutrients in feed. In addition, these two compounds have bacteriostatic and bactericidal effects, which can inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria in the intestines of animals, regulate the balance of intestinal bacteria, and improve the absorption capacity of nutrients, thereby promoting animal growth.
Antioxidant effect: oregano oil components mainly play an antioxidant role in some phenolic acids and terpenes. Compared with the antioxidant activity of oregano oil with a-tocopherol and butylhydroxytoluene, oregano oil has good antioxidant activity even at very low concentrations (100mg/kg), and its antioxidant activity is derived from thymol and carvacrol contained in oregano oil.
Application of oregano oil in pig production: active ingredients such as thymol and carvacrol contained in oregano oil have strong antibacterial and bactericidal effects, and have a wide antibacterial spectrum, especially for gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli and salmonella, which can effectively reduce the number of harmful bacteria in the intestine, and at the same time significantly improve beneficial bacteria such as bifidobacteria and lactic acid bacteria. Therefore, it can be used to prevent and control the occurrence of intestinal diseases in livestock and poultry. Oregano oil has a significant effect on preventing and controlling post-weaning diarrhea in piglets. Oregano oil also has a growth-promoting effect on pigs. It is mainly to stimulate the glossopharyngeal nerve of pigs, improve saliva secretion and improve the appetite of pigs, thereby improving the production performance of pigs.
Application of oregano oil in poultry production: oregano oil can not only prevent and control poultry diseases, but also improve the production performance of poultry, which is mainly to promote animal growth from two aspects: stimulating animal feeding and maintaining the balance of intestinal flora.
Oregano oil extracted from oregano grass is a new type of plant antibiotic, with natural, no residue, no withdrawal period and no drug resistance, with antibacterial, bactericidal, growth promotion and antioxidant effects, the application of oregano oil to livestock production helps to achieve the greening of animal-derived food, to ensure people's health.