Young animals often appear digestive tract diseases such as dyspepsia and diarrhea due to maladjustment to the external environment. Diarrhea occurs in early spring and late summer and early autumn, with symptoms such as elevated body temperature, diarrhea, dehydration, self-poisoning and heart failure. Diarrhea not only threatens the health of young animals but also brings huge economic loss to the development of animal husbandry. Dietary antibiotics have effectively protected animal health in the past decades, but long-term addition of antibiotics in the feed will lead to the emergence of drug-resistant super bacteria in animals, while antibiotics will remain in animals, which not only harms animal health, but also poses a serious threat to human health. According to Announcement no. 194 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the feed industry has entered the era of no resistance, and the research on the replacement of antibiotics will become a research focus in the future. Plant extracts contain saponins, polysaccharides, alkaloids, flavonoids, and plant essential oil and other ingredients, inhibit the growth of pathogens, promote the pancreas and small intestine enzyme secretion and increase the ability to generate and bile secretion, in improving immunity and promote intestinal health play an important role in, with depth development and utilization potential in the animal husbandry and aquaculture.
Overview of plant extracts and active ingredients
For example, the English names of plant extracts include phytogenic feed additive, Herbs, and plant extracts. In a broad sense, plant extract refers to one or more kinds of plant products with biological small molecules or macromolecules as the main body obtained by separation and purification of plant original leaves by means of extraction and distillation. In a narrow sense, plant extracts are plant-derived additives that are obtained from plants and used to be added to animal feeds. They can promote animal production performance, improve body immunity and improve the quality of animal products.
Plant extracts contain a variety of active components, including saponins, polysaccharides, flavonoids and so on. Saponins are a class of glycosides with complex structure, which exist widely in plant kingdom and are the basis for many natural plants to perform pharmacological functions. For example, triterpenoid saponins are the main components in Chinese traditional medicine Pulsatilla chinensis, which is also the basis of its anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory and other biological activities. The triterpenoid saponins of Pulsatilla pulsatilla mainly include pulsatilla pulsatilla saponin B4, pulsatilla pulsatilla saponin A3 and 23-hydroxybetulic acid. Among them, pulsatilla pulsatilla saponin B4 (Anemoside B4) is the main active ingredient with the highest content, and its chemical formula is C59H96O26, which has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and immune-enhancing effects. Polysaccharide, as a kind of macromolecular substance, has good biological activity. It is composed of more than 10 monosaccharide molecules connected by glycosidic bonds, and has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antioxidant, anti-tumor, improve the body immunity and other functions. Taking Astragalus as an example, Astragalus polysaccharides (APS) is the main active ingredient of Chinese traditional medicine Astragalus membranaceus. Its chemical formula is C10H7ClN2O2S, and it has biological functions of anti-tumor, anti-virus, anti-oxidation, anti-aging, lowering blood sugar, and can improve intestinal function and nutrient utilization rate. Increase the immune organ index, improve the immune function of animals, improve the growth performance of animals, improve the quality of livestock and poultry products. Flavonoids are a kind of polyphenols widely distributed in plants, which have antioxidant, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects and are of special significance to improve the growth performance and microbial safety of animals. For example, Baicalin, extracted and isolated from the dried root of Scutellaria baicalin, is a flavonoid compound with significant antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-pathogen and other biological activities. It has been widely used in clinical treatment of lung heat cough, damp-heat diarrhea, eye redness and pain, etc.
