Green tea (Camellia sinensis) as a phytogenic substance in poultry diets (by Dr. Sohail Hassan Khan)

After  water, the tea is one of the world’s most highly consumed beverages in the world. It has number of health benefits and attracted much attention. Dr. Sohail hassan Khan reviewed its benefits and utilization in poultry and broiler birds. 

As per review, the green tea has over 200 bioactive compounds and contains over 300 different substances. Chemically  tea consisted of polyphenols (catechins and flavanoids), alkaloids (caffeine, threobromine, theophylline), volatile oils, polysaccharides, amino acids, lipids, vitamin C, minerals and other un-characterised compounds.
green tea leaves contained amino acids as 1.35 %  aspartic,
0.64 %  therionine,
0.67 %  serine,
1.98 % glutamic,
0.68 %  proline,
0.76 %  glycine,
0.78 %  alanine,
0.78 %  valine,
0.55 %  isoleucine,
1.17 % leucine,
0.57 % tyrosine,
0.78 %  phenylalanine,
0.32 %  histidine,
0.85 % lysine,
0.74 %  arginine,
0.37 %  methionine and
0.14 %  cystine. 
 
Minerals comprise about 4.00 %  – 9.00 %  of the inorganic matter of tea.
The tea have Anticoccidial and antimicrobial effects. Polyphenols extracted from green tea have been shown to have inhibitory effects on Gram-positive bacteria as well as Gram-negative bacteria.
 
The antiviral effects  of green tea have also been reported. It has positive effect on intestinal flora. Positive effects of green tea on broilers’ and layer bird performance has also been reviewed in the article.
 
In sumamry the addition of green tea by-products to the broilers and layers diets can improve the performance (body weight gain and feed efficiency) and reduce the cholesterol content in the serum and egg yolk. This is a clear cut indication of improvement of egg quality.
 

http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ojvr.v81i2.706

Authors: Sohail H. Khan
Affiliations: Poultry Research Institute, Pakistan

Correspondence to: Sohail Khan
Email: sohailhassan64@gmail.com

Postal address: Poultry Research Institute, Murree Road, Shamsabad, Rawalpindi 46000, Pakistan

How to cite this article: Khan, S.H., 2014, ‘The use of green tea (Camellia sinensis)as a phytogenic substance in poultry diets’, Journal of Veterinary Research 81(1), Art. #706, 8 pages. 

htp://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ojvr.v81i2.706

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© 2014. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS OpenJournals. This work is licensed under the Creaive Commons
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