Coneflower

Echinacea purpurea

Other Names:

American Coneflower, Black Samson, Comb Flower, Echinacea

Benefits

Anticoccidial
Antioxidant
Antiseptic
Antiviral
Antifungal
Antibacterial
Immunity
Wound-healing

Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is a popular perennial with striking, purple-pink, daisy-like flowers. It blooms mid to late summer to early fall as flower stalks with upright spikes and flowers with petal radiating outwards. Purple coneflower was used extensively by traditional herbalists and Native Americans alike in North America for generations and is well-known for its ability to help strengthen the immune system to aid in warding off colds and flu viruses. It is said to help stimulate the overall activity of the cells responsible for fighting all kinds of infection. Specific applications for purple coneflower and poultry:

Anticoccidial: Purple coneflower has shown to be a beneficial supplement for chickens in enhancing immunity and fighting off Eimeria spp that cause Coccidiosis in chickens.

Poultry Specific Studies

Type	Plant Part	Dosage	Specific use	Results	Ref
Chickens	ground root	0.1-0.5% of feed	immunity	combined live vaccination and feed supplementation with 0.1% or 0.5% Echinacea purpurea during the first 2 weeks of life provided significant weight gain advantage compared to live vaccination alone. This advantage persisted through 2 weeks of Echinacea purpurea withdrawal and subsequent challenge infection.	P Allen 2003
Hens	pressed juice	0.25 mL/kg BW	immunity	Higher count of lymphocytes and NDV antibodies in the blood	Böhmer et al 2018
Chickens	aerial part powder	5 to 10 g/kg diet	immunity	Higher antibody titers against SRBC and NDV	Landy et al 2018
Chickens		5 mg/kg of diet	immunity, Escherichia coli	improved the final body weight and immune response of non-infected chicks and have a respectable effect for facing E. coli infection. It improved hematological and serum biochemical adverse effects by E. coli infection.	M Hashem et al., 2019
Ducks		2.5-5 g EP/kg diet	reproductive performance, antioxidan	had beneficial effects on productive and reproductive performance as well as lipid profile and antioxidant status and economically valued in breeder ducks under summer conditions.	A Awad et al., 2021
Chickens	extract	750 mg/kg of diet for 42 days		Aided in the recovery from infection with Eimeria spp.	A Arczewska-Wloseki et al., 2013
Broilers	dried Aerial Powder	5 g/kg of diet		Improved performance and immune responses	N Landy et al., 2011