Sea Buckthorn By-Products – Valuable Feed Ingredients for Poultry Nutrition
Keywords:
poultry health, egg, meat, bioactive compounds.Abstract
Sea buckthorn, a bioactive and nutritional plant, rich in fat soluble vitamins (A, K, E), water soluble vitamins (C, B1, B2, folic acid), beneficial fatty acids, flavonoids, phenols, terpenes, tannins, organic acids, and amino acids, is cultivated especially for its juice obtained from fruits which have demonstrated beneficial properties for human health. Sea buckthorn meal is the principal by-product and can be successfully incorporated into poultry diets, as demonstrated by numerous in vivo studies on poultry. This review synthesizes studies investigating the effects of sea buckthorn components, by-products, and extracts in poultry, with particular emphasis on production performance (body weight, carcass traits, egg production, and egg quality), intestinal health, hypocholesterolemic effects, and improvements in egg yolk and meat color. Other beneficial effects regarding meat quality are n3-polyunsaturated fatty acids enrichment and delayed lipid oxidation. In conclusion, the available evidence indicates that sea buckthorn and its by-products can be considered functional ingredients with real benefits on the health of birds and the quality of the products obtained. They can be included in sustainable poultry production systems, oriented towards the valorization of natural resources.
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