The race to start production in poultry without antibiotics has brought a lot of innovations with many scholars turning to plants and plant extracts and herbs to boost production.
A study in Bangladesh has shown that antibiotic-free poultry production is possible by using green tea as a feed additive.The study showed that 0.25% of green tea ,250 grams in every 100 kilograms of feed as feed additive could bring better results than the use of antibiotics in poultry production.
Another study showed the potency of green tea additive as a potent deworming agent and also as an anticoccidial agent. Birds fed the extract demonstrated better gut health as demonstrated by absence of coccidiosis in the flock.
Birds were bigger than birds not fed the tea extracts,as the birds had better feed utilization thus promoting growth.
The green tea extract contains flavonoids which are powerful antioxidants, amino acids, xanthine alkaloids, vitamin and minerals, which are safe for humans making the extract a substitute for antibiotic growth promoters.
