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Wormwood


Artemisia annua

Wormwood

Other Names:

Qing Hao, Sweet Sagewort, Annual Mugwort, Sweet Annie, Qinghao, Sweet Wormwood, Green Ginger, Annual Wormwood

Benefits

  • Anti-inflammatory
  • Antioxidant
  • Anticoccidial
  • Antibacterial
  • Heptoprotective
  • Insecticide
  • Insect-repellent
  • Snake-repellent
Wormwood (Artemisia annua) is a herb from the Compositae plant family. As far back as the 16th century, Wormwood has been used for many classic remedies, including the ailments it remedies today. The dried leaves of the plant contains artemisinin, which is a bioactive sesquiterpene lactone that has been shown to be effective against several protozoan parasites and serves as a repellent against moths and other insects.Specific applications studied in poultry include:
  • Anticoccidial: 1.5% Wormwood leaf powder added to the feed (equivalent to 15 kg of wormwood leaf per ton of feed) of chicks for 35 days, was found to be effective against Coccidiosis. Treated chickens had 100% survival rates, reduced oocysts output (72% decrease), and improved fecal scores.
  • Snake-repellent: Wormwood is said to contain chemicals which act as a natural snake repellent.
  • Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): In TCM, major actions include Clears summerheat, clear fever from deficiency,
    cools blood, stops bleeding.
CAUTION: Wormwood Essential Oil is highly toxic and should not be fed to chickens. Wormwood leaves are also highly toxic and should be used with extreme care and caution.

Poultry Specific Studies

TypePlant PartDosageSpecific useResultsRef
Chickens1 g/kgheat stressAlleviated heat-stress-induced compromised growth performance and intestinal damage of broilers.Z Song et al., 2018
Chickens1.00–1.25 g/kg of dietheat stressalleviated heat stress-induced growth depression and liver oxidative injury in broilers, possibly through improving the antioxidant capacity and regulating the pertinent mRNA expression.X Wan et al., 2017
Chickensanticoccidialsignificantly reduced oocyst output in free ranged broilers and thus may form part of a strategy to prevent commercial losses.G deAlmeida et al., 2012
Chickensleaves1-5% of dietanticoccidialArtemisinin fed for 4 wk at levels of 2, 8.5, and 17 ppm significantly reduced oocyst output from separate E. acervulina and E. tenella infections and a dual species infection. Pure artemisinin thus appears to be effective against at least two coccidia species when used as a feed additive, and its activity may depend, in part, on the length of time it is administered before a challenge infection.P Allen et al., 1997

References

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