Effect of different levels of Echinacea purpurea extract on performance, feed intake, blood metabolites and immune parameters of calves

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of animal science,university of birjand

2 Birjand university

Abstract

Introduction:Under current husbandry conditions, veal calves are often affected by different disease. Various factors could cause these disease in calves. After birth, calves are separated from their mothers, preventing the calf from picking up the protective gut flora from its mother. Furthermore, at a very young age, the animals are faced with major stress events like transportation, marketing, dietary changes and exposure to a variety of infectious agents. Consequently, animals consume less milk, are predisposed to loss of barrier function of the gut and may suffer from impaired immune function. Moreover, the protective potential of the microbial gut flora tends to decrease For example, during stress events, the trend is for the productive lactobacilli to decrease and for coliforms to increase. To prevent the opportunistic pathogenic flora from flourishing, current practice is to treat calves with antibiotics during the first 5-10 days after arrival (Soltan. 2009). However, the antibiotics diminish not only the activity of pathogenic flora, but also that of the
productive flora. A ban on antibiotics as feed additives in animal nutrition is realized since 1986 in Sweden and 1999 in Switzerland. With the restricted use or ban of dietary antimicrobial agents, we must explore new ways to improve and protect the health status of farm animals, to guarantee animal performance and to increase nutrient availability. Accordingly, there is greater interest in using plants and plant extracts as alternatives to feed antibiotics. Beneficial effects of
essential oils on farm animals may arise from activation of feed intake and secretion of digestive secretions, immune stimulation, anti-bacterial, coccidiostatic, antiviral and antioxidant properties (Wenk. 2003). Echinacea purpurea is one of the most important medical herbs. It is widely used around the world to treat common cold and other infectious disorders with the claim to have paramunity-inducing and non-specific immune responses stimulating effects (Böhmer et al. 2009). Echinacea increased phagocytic activity of alveolar macrophage and resulted an enhanced release of cytokines (such as TNF-α and IFN-γ) in rat’s spleen macrophage (Goel et al. 2002). Considering the beneficial effects of Echinacea purpurea in traditional medicine as well as its regulating effect on the immune system, it seems that the use of Echinacea purpurea as a food additive can have beneficial effects on the immunity and performance of dairy calves.
Material and methods: This experiment was carried out on Astan Quds Razavi farm. Twenty-four one day old Holstein female calves were divided into four treatments with eight replicates. The experiment was conducted as a completely design. Levels of 0, 350, 700 and 1050 mg/day/per calf Echinacea purprea extract were added to treatments 1 to 4 respectively. The Echinacea purpurea extract was purchased from the Zardband pharmaceuticals Company. The extract was added to milk in per weaning period and to drinking water in post weaning period. Calves were kept in separate pen until the end of the experiment. Animals had ad libitum access to water and dietary. Daily feed intake and monthly body weight measured and blood samples were taken monthly.
Results and discussion: The results showed that the effect of experimental treatments on body weight gain was not significant in per weaning, post weaning period and whole experiment. Similarly, other previous researchers (Hermann et al. 2003, Maass et al., 2005) did not find positive effect of Echinacea purpurea on pigs performance also in another study that was carried out on broilers and layers indicated that different levels of Echinacea did not have any effect on body weight (Roth-Maier et al., 2005).The results indicated that feed intake was not affected by treatments during per weaning, post weaning and whole period. The findings of some previous studies indicated that use of Echinacea purpurea as feed additive did not effect on feed intake of pigs ((Hermann et al., 2003; Maass et al. 2005). Differences in blood metabolites concentration were not significant between treatments. Agreed with our results Hadhoud (2014) reported that supplemented goat’s diets with Echinacea purpurea at level of 4 or 8 g/ kg DM, had no effect on blood serum albumin, globulin, urea, glucose, ALT, AST, cholesterol and triglycerides concentrations although it significantly increase blood serum total protein of the treated goats. Interleukin 10 concentration was significantly higher in treatment 4 compared to control treatment (p<0.05). In a study showed that N alkamides isolated from Echinacea induce activity on cannabinoid receptor type-2 (CB2) and ultimately lead to immunomodulatory effects along with the superstimulation of interleukin 10 (IL 10) in vitro (Chicca et al. 2009). Immunoglobulin G concentration was significantly higher in treatment4 than control treatment (p<0.05). In a study the rats were injected intraperitoneally with KLH (Calbiochem, San Diego,CA) antigen, 10 µg/kg, on Day 0 then were treated with 3.3 g commercially available E. angustifolia root extract per 1 liter of drinking water, they showed a significant augmentation of their primary and secondary IgG response to the antigen(Rehman et al., 1999). Concentration of tumor necrosis factor alpha affected treatments and was significantly higher in 4 treatment compared 1 treatment (p<0.05). Similarly our results in a study showed a trend of increase in TNF-α and nitric oxide release by the alveolar macrophages following an in vitro stimulation with Lipopolysaccharides of Echinacea was also evident. An enhanced release of cytokines (such as TNF-α and IFN-γ) in response to Echinacea components, was also apparent in rat’s spleen macrophage (Goel et al. 2002).
Conclusion: our results showed Echinacea purpurea had no effect on performance, feed intake and blood metabolites but significantly improved immune system parameters as we expected.

Keywords


Azzaz H, Farahat ES, Morsy T, Aziz HA, Hadhoud FI and Abd-Alla M, 2016. Moringa oleifera and Echinacea purpurea as supplements for Rhamani lactating ewe’s diets and their effect on rumen characteristics, nutrients digestibility, blood parameters, milk production, composition and its fatty acid profile. Asian Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances 11(11):684-692.
Barrett B, 2003. Medicinal properties of Echinacea: a critical review. Phytomedicine 10(1):66-86.
Benchaar C, Calsamiglia S, Chaves A, Fraser G, Colombatto D, McAllister T and Beauchemin K, 2008. A review of plant-derived essential oils in ruminant nutrition and production. Animal Feed Science and Technology 145(1-4):209-228.
Bergeron, C., J. F. Livesey, D. V. Awang, J. T. Arnason, J. Rana, B. R. Baum, and W. Letchamo. 2000. A quantitative HPLC method for the quality assurance of Echinacea products on the North American market. Phytochemical Analysis: An International Journal of Plant Chemical and Biochemical Techniques 11(4):207-215.
Böhmer BM, Salisch H, Paulicks BR and Roth F, 2009. Echinacea purpurea as a potential immunostimulatory feed additive in laying hens and fattening pigs by intermittent application. Livestock Science 122(1):81-85.
Burger RA, Torres AR, Warren RP, Caldwell VD, and Hughes BG, 1997. Echinacea-induced cytokine production by human macrophages. International Journal of Immunopharmacology 19(7):371-379.
Chicca A, Raduner S, Pellati F, Strompen T, Altmann KH, Schoop R and Gertsch J, 2009. Synergistic immunomopharmacological effects of N-alkylamides in Echinacea purpurea herbal extracts. International Immunopharmacology 9(7-8):850-858.
Dymnicka M, Łozicki A, Koziorowski M, Klupczyński J, Miciński J and Mścisz A, 2004. The effect of Echinacea purpurea on the immunological function of the mammary gland of cows during the perinatal period. Journal of Animal and Feed Science 13(2):9-12.
El-Basiony AZ, Khattab H, Kholif A, Hadhoud FI and El-Alamy H, 2015. Effect of using Echinacea Purpurea, Nigella Sativa and Chicorium Intybus in dairy Goats’ diet on milk production and quality: 2- effect on digestibility, some blood parameters and milk production and quality. Egyptian J Nutrition and Feeds 18(2):137-145.
Goel V, Chang C, Slama JV, Barton R, Bauer R, Gahler R and Basu TK, 2002. Echinacea stimulates macrophage function in the lung and spleen of normal rats. The Journal of Nutritional BBiochemistry 13(8):487-492.
Hermann J, Honeyman M, Zimmerman J, Thacker B, Holden P and Chang C, 2003. Effect of dietary Echinacea purpurea on viremia and performance in porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus-infected nursery pigs. Journal of Animal Science 81(9):2139-2144.
Iben B, 2000. Warum kranke Individuen nicht wachsen. Großtierpraxis 1:5-36.
Landy N, Ghalamkari Gh, Toghyani M and Moattar F, 2011. The effects of Echinacea purpurea L.(purple coneflower) as an antibiotic growth promoter substitution on performance, carcass characteristics and humoral immune response in broiler chickens. Journal of Medicinal Plants Research 5(11):2332-2338.
Landy N, Ghalamkari GM, Toghyani M, Moatar F, Fekri F and Golparvar AR, 2010. The effect of intermittent application of Echinacea purpurea with different levels on performance and immune responses of broiler chickens. Journal of Veterinary Pathobiology 1(3): 59-67. (In Persian).
Luettig B, Steinmüller C, Gifford G, Wagner H and Lohmann-Matthes ML, 1989. Macrophage activation by the polysaccharide arabinogalactan isolated from plant cell cultures of Echinacea purpurea. JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute 81(9):669-675.
Maass N, Bauer J, Paulicks B, Böhmer B and Roth‐Maier D, 2005. Efficiency of Echinacea purpurea on performance and immune status in pigs. Journal of animal physiology and animal nutrition 89(7‐8):244-252.
Nasir Z and Grashorn M, 2006. Use of Black cumin (Nigella sativa Linn.) as alternative to antibiotics in poultry diets. 9. Tagung Schweine-und Geflügelernährung, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany, 28-30 November 2006:210-213.
Nasir Z and Grashorn M, 2009. Echinacea: A potential feed and water additive in poultry and swine production. Arch Geflügelk 73(3).
Nasir Z and Grashorn M, 2010. Effects of intermittent application of different Echinacea purpurea juices on broiler performance and some blood parameters. Archiv für Geflügelkunde 74(1):36-42.
Rahimi S, Teymori Zadeh Z, Torshizi K, Omidbaigi R and Rokni H, 2011. Effect of the three herbal extracts on growth performance, immune system, blood factors and intestinal selected bacterial population in broiler chickens. Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology 13:527-539.
Rehman J, Dillow JM, Carter SM, Chou J, Le B and Maisel AS, 1999. Increased production of antigen-specific immunoglobulins G and M following in vivo treatment with the medicinal plants Echinacea angustifolia and Hydrastis canadensis. Immunology Letters 68(2-3):391-395.
Rininger JA, Kickner S, Chigurupati P, McLean A and Franck Z, 2000. Immunopharmacological activity of Echinacea preparations following simulated digestion on murine macrophages and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Journal of Leukocyte Biology 68(4):503-510.
Rostami F, Taherpour K, Akbari-Gharaei M, Shirzadi H and Ghasemi HA, 2019. Effects of hydroalcoholic extract of Scrophularia striata in comparison with antibiotic, probiotic and a multivitamin and mineral supplement on growth performance and blood parameters of broilers. Animal Science Researches 28(4): 197-201. (In Persian). 
Roth-Maier DA, Böhmer BM, Maab N, Damme K and Paulicks BR, 2005. Efficiency of Echinacea purpureaon performance of broilers and layers.
Rountree R, 2011. Roundoc Rx: Immunomodulators: Fighting Recurrent Upper Respiratory Infections Naturally. Alternative and Complementary Therapies 17(5):255-260.
Soltan M, 2009. Effect of essential oils supplementation on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, health condition of Holstein male calves during pre-and post-weaning periods. Pakistan Journal of Nutrition 8(5):642-652.
Stimpel M, Proksch A, Wagner H and Lohmann-Matthes M, 1984. Macrophage activation and induction of macrophage cytotoxicity by purified polysaccharide fractions from the plant Echinacea Ppurpurea. Infection and Iimmunity 46(3):845-849.
Wenk C, 2003. Herbs and botanicals as feed additives in monogastric animals. Asian Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences 16(2):282-289.
Woelkart K and Bauer R, 2007. The role of alkamides as an active principle of Echinacea. Planta Medica 73(07):615-623.
Zhai Z, Liu Y, Wu L, Senchina DS, Wurtele ES, Murphy PA, Kohut ML and Cunnick JE, 2007. Enhancement of innate and adaptive immune functions by multiple Echinacea species. Journal of Medicinal Food 10(3):423-434.