Garlic as a green feed additive offers many benefits

Garlic is a feed additive for mold prevention in summer and for producing green food that is hygienic and safe, and it is the preferred plant for controlling drug residues as a green feed additive with wide sources and low price. Its characteristics are introduced as follows:

1. Biological characteristics of garlic:

1.1 Garlic (ALLiumsativum), also known as hu garlic or single-clove garlic, with a solid bulb shaped like a crescent according to the color of the outer skin membrane, is a natural perennial herbaceous cultivated vegetable type, with a strong garlic odor and medicinal value similar to antibiotics, but without the side effects of antibiotic drug residues. It is a pungent vegetable that is highly safe, widely practical, and abundantly available as a substitute for antibiotics.

1.2. Classification of garlic: It can be divided into white-skin garlic and purple-skin garlic. Purple-skin garlic contains more allicin than white-skin garlic.

1.3 Functions of garlic: Warm in nature, pungent in taste, enters the stomach meridian, warms the stomach and promotes qi flow, reduces swelling and detoxifies, reduces inflammation and tonifies the kidneys, tonifies the spleen and treats waist pain, kills parasites and treats diarrhea.

2. Pharmacological properties of garlic:

2.1 Anti-inflammatory effect: Garlic has had special pharmacological effects for thousands of years, and in recent years garlic has been developed into a feed additive.

The allicin in garlic can stimulate the oral mucosa and taste buds, excite sensory nerves, and increase appetite. When the appetite of chickens decreases in summer, adding 1% allicin to the feed can restore the appetite of the flock and increase feed intake.

2.2 Protein conversion effect: The main component of garlic is diallyl trisulfide, which can decompose protein and fat in the intestinal tract, promote cell assimilation, produce glutathione, resist cell necrosis, and convert protein. It not only improves resistance but also increases the egg production rate of laying hens. If 3% garlic powder is added to the feed of laying hens at the start of laying, the egg production rate can be increased by more than 15%.

2.3 Anti-diarrheal effect: The allyl sulfide compounds in garlic can differentiate and resolve the thermal pain and functional impairment in red and swollen areas. When pigs develop enteritis and diarrhea, administering 100 ml of garlic tincture twice by gavage can cure it.

2.4 Antibacterial effect of garlic: The active ingredient in garlic is diallyl trisulfide, which can effectively prevent and treat a variety of common bacterial infectious diseases, such as Staphylococcus, Pasteurella, Salmonella typhi, Shigella, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. When used in the breeding of cattle, pigs, broiler chickens, ducks, fish, and some special economic animals, it can achieve ideal antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and growth-promoting effects. It is a broad-spectrum natural antibacterial additive.

2.5 Mold-inhibiting effect: In summer when molds multiply, mixing garlic powder into feed at a ratio of 1% can prevent the reproduction of molds such as Aspergillus flavus, Candida albicans, and Fusarium. Insecticidal effect: Adding 2% garlic powder to the feed of rabbits, chickens, and pigs and feeding continuously for two weeks can prevent the occurrence of small intestinal coccidia and liver coccidia. It improves animal disease resistance.

3. Utilization of garlic:

3.1 Ancient Chinese veterinary medicine produced garlic tincture: It is used to treat abdominal pain and diarrhea in donkeys, mules, horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs.

3.2 Ten years ago, allicin was extracted. Allicin is a volatile substance and is not resistant to high temperatures; however, special techniques such as coating are used to make allicin resistant to high temperatures and maintain garlic aroma for a longer time, making it suitable for products that require high-temperature granulation. There are 15% and 25% packaging, and the content of the active ingredient diallyl trisulfide in garlic is adjusted to above 60%.

3.3 In recent years, garlic powder premix has been developed for use as a feed additive for chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, fish, pigs, and others. And according to actual conditions, it is reasonably selected to prevent fish Streptococcus, Vibrio anguillarum, and Monospora, and to treat rotten gills, enteritis, and red skin disease.

3.4 Garlic oil: A direct extract from fresh garlic. About 3 kg of garlic oil can be extracted from 1 ton of garlic. Garlic oil mainly based on artificially synthesized diallyl trisulfide has a purity of 98%. Garlic oil is diluted by adding a carrier to make a powder, which becomes an allicin preparation with a certain content. The dosage of allicin is relatively low; generally 50 mg/kg body weight to 100 mg/kg body weight has a good effect. Its price is also relatively low, at one-several tenth to one-several tenth of the production cost of some imported growth-promoting additives.

3.5 Garlic treasure from the United States: In the Lycopene and Amway health food series, there is garlic treasure that can prevent heart attack. Garlic contains a compound called ajoene, which has the effect of diluting blood, softening blood vessels, lowering blood lipids, and preventing blood clotting, thereby preventing the occurrence of cerebral thrombosis and myocardial infarction. Especially when broiler chickens experience sudden death syndrome and acute death of unknown causes, adding 2% garlic powder to the feed and feeding continuously for 3-4 days can control the development of the condition and stop death.

4.1 No contraindications for use.

Allicin can be used in combination with other additives (including various antibiotics) without producing antagonistic effects. Allicin also has no withdrawal restrictions and can be used in laying hens, dairy cows, fish, and some products before market, and is harmless to human cells.

4.2 Safety.

Allicin basically has no cumulative effect in the animal body, and residues are extremely low. After long-term use, no allicin content has been detected in muscle or internal organs, so it will not cause harm to humans and animals; allicin also does not cause poisoning, cancer, or malformations, so it is an additive with relatively high safety.

4.3 Does not produce drug resistance.

The use of antibiotics more easily produces drug resistance, and the effect gradually decreases, so after a period of use it is necessary to switch to other drugs. Allicin is a natural antibacterial substance. So far, no strains resistant to allicin have been found in animal bodies or wild strains, so allicin can be used for a long time and has relatively high safety. It can also be called a "reassuring additive."

5. It has the effect of one drug with multiple functions.

Having multiple effects is a major characteristic of garlic. Garlic can not only prevent and treat a variety of common diseases and promote animal growth, but is also an effective flavoring agent. The strong garlic aroma can effectively mask the undesirable odors of raw materials such as rapeseed meal and meat-and-bone meal in feed, improve feed palatability, stimulate blood circulation, dilate blood vessels [5], promote hormone production, and increase animal feed intake. The special aroma of allicin can also have a strong attracting effect on fish and can be used as a feeding attractant in aquatic feed to attract fish to eat. Garlic can enhance the special flavor of chicken and duck meat and improve the meat quality and taste of industrially farmed chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, and others. In summer, allicin has an inhibitory effect on coccidia in laying hens, mold poisoning in feed, and cholera.

6. Dosage of garlic preparations.

The use of garlic preparations should be added according to the needs of the animal being used, by different body weights or feed percentages. The commonly used garlic tincture is used in small amounts, at most 300 ml, and is used for large livestock such as horses, mules, and cattle, and is rarely used for poultry. Allicin commonly has specifications of 5%-25%, and some are called garlic powder. It is often used as a feed additive for broiler chickens and laying hens in summer, used at 2% per ton of feed. Garlic oil is often used in fish and shrimp feed, and it is appropriate to add 50-100 grams per ton of feed.

In short, garlic has wide sources, is simple to grow, has great development potential, and is convenient for feeding. It is an ideal natural feed additive with no drug residues, no drug resistance, and no pollution. It has the effects of mold prevention, bacterial inhibition, insect killing, lowering cholesterol, promoting blood circulation, improving resistance, and promoting growth. Under conditions of abundant resources, using chemical synthesis technology to extract the active ingredients in garlic to produce allicin products, and then making them into commercial allicin with a certain effective content, is convenient to use and requires a small dosage, and is the most common method. It is a way to solve poverty in agriculture, rural areas, and among farmers, and is also an effective measure to solve drug residues in animal-derived foods, compete in the international trade market, and build China's food safety brand for poultry and livestock products.