Stage 1: The Proof
Early in 2002, a team of researchers released a study claiming that the herb oregano had beneficial effects when used as a feed additive for poultry. The team was based at the Laboratory of Nutrition, Thessaloniki, Greece, and announced their claims via the scientific review journal of the US National Library of Medicine, stating that “…as oregano oil increased in the diet … particularly at 100 mg/kg of feed, [the feed additive] exerted an antioxidant effect on chicken tissues.”
Four years later, a follow up study found that the herb had a positive effect in fighting infection. Publishing their results in the journal Archives of Animal Nutrition, the team explained how their research involved a total of 120-day-old Cobb-500 chicks. Three quarters of which were infected with the bacteria E. tenella, while the other quarter were kept disease free as a control.
In the experiment, the team noted that, “the supplementation with dietary oregano oil resulted in body weight gains and feed conversion ratios not differing from the non-infected group, but higher than those of the infected control group.”
This means that the chicks that were fed oregano as a feed additive were just as healthy as the non-infected birds. Those that were infected and given only regular feed were smaller and less healthy.
An even later study from 2005, published in the industry journal British Poultry Science, found that, “… dietary oregano improved feed conversion efficiency in female early maturing turkeys, with the lowest oregano inclusion (1·25 g/kg) giving the most cost effective diet. Thus, dried oregano leaves may be used as a natural herbal growth promoter for early maturing turkeys.”
Yet, despite this early understanding of the benefits of oregano, its use did not become widespread until just a few years ago.
Stage 2: The Practice
In 2013, a thorough report on the topic was published in the livestock journal Progressive Diaryman, finding that oregano had been proven to be an effective biological agent against infection. The report noted tests on oregano essential oil had, “… inhibited 19 of 25 investigated bacterial strains, showed good efficacy against four strains and only had to admit defeat in two cases. Thus, oregano is considered to be a natural broad-spectrum bacteria killer.”
Even more promising for farmers is that, “The advantage of oregano compared to other [feed additive] compounds is the relatively low effective dose and the neutral flavor in meat, milk and eggs.”
The report continued by explaining how oregano as a feed additive had a whole range of proven benefits, including combating respiratory disease, stimulating appetite, increasing intestinal stability, reducing flatulence, and even easing constipation.
Furthermore, the use of oregano as an animal feed was found to be effective against fungal infections. As the report observed, “Low dose [use of oregano essential oil as a feed additive] is remarkable for use to control fungi: The dose required to eliminate 99.9 percent of Candida is 111 times lower than with the standard medication (calcium-magnesium-caprylate). In other cases, a concentration of 0.1 percent or 0.01 percent is already sufficient to eliminate 90 percent of Candida.” Adding that, “Although some restrictions may apply, the laboratory values can generally be transferred to practical use in cattle farming.”
The health benefits to animals for using oregano in feed are further supported by research conducted by Janet Garman, an expert on natural farming methods. Reporting in the journal Timber Creek Farm, she states that. “Oregano, in conjunction with probiotic foods, leads to healthy gut enzymes and gut flora. Oregano replaces antibiotic use in livestock when fed in combination with probiotics and sanitary living conditions. Feeding both the fresh or dried oregano or the more concentrated oregano oil, consistently, has been shown to keep bacteria and parasite illness away. In addition, feeding oregano or oregano oil helps the animal’s intestines recover and heal from illness.”
As an added bonus, oregano has also been found to reduce livestock’s methane output, making them more environmentally friendly and healthier for the ozone.
As the British newspaper, The Independent, reported, “Researchers from Arhus University in Denmark believe they could help solve the problem [of global greenhouse gas emissions] simply by feeding cattle oregano.”
With senior researcher, Kai Grevson, stating that, “Oregano has essential oils with a mild antimicrobial called carvacrol, which can kill some of the bacteria in the cow’s rumen that produce methane.”
Stage 3: The Profit
Slowly but surely, a number of small companies are beginning to see a profit from selling oregano as a feed additive. As feed industry journal, Feed Navigator, reported in Sept 2017, noting that specialty feed additive supplier, Anpario, is “looking to crack the UK egg market with an oregano additive trial.” Adding that the company, “… hopes to gather more data on its gut health oregano-based feed additive as it drives its presence forward in the UK layer sector.”
German-based Dostofarm, has been around since 1999, but is only now beginning to gain market traction as ‘The Oregano People’ brand. Meanwhile, in America, natural feed additive supplier, Durvet, has grown from a small ‘man and a van’ operation in 1970, to having “$169 million in yearly sales, while each year its 21 independent distributor shareholders sell in excess of $1 billion of animal health and agriculture products.” Although oregano represents only a small part of any individual product.
Evidently, the list of commercial oregano suppliers for use as a feed additive is still relatively short. In fact, no one knows for sure why oregano as a feed additive is not more widely used. Maybe the discovery is still too new. Perhaps the thought of such a plain, natural remedy is simply not believable. Possibly, the manufacturers of other feed additives are speaking too loudly for the benefits of oregano to be heard.
But if the list of benefits from eating oregano is so long, why aren’t more feed manufacturers asking for it as a feed additive? In fact, why aren’t we taking it ourselves?
Maybe in time we will, for the fear of anti-biotic over-use is continuing to grow, possibly becoming the catalyst to make oregano an actively used feed additive. But who will be the feed manufacturer to take the bold step to be first, and what will stage 4 of the oregano as a feed additive story look like?
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Photo credit: greenprophet, bonnieplants & mentalfloss
