Quail feed suplementation with thymol or isoeugenol: effects on fly production from poultry manure.

GLEISER, R.M.; LYNCH IANELLO, I.; BATTAN, M.; MARIN, R.H.

Nanthes

Congreso; XVIII WVPA (World Veterinary Poultry Association) Congress; 2013

World Veterinary Poultry Association

Most poultry production issues are linked to a combination of factors related to management, stress, nutrition and exposition to pathogens. Diet supplementation with functional feed, products that provide a health benefit beyond basic nutrition, may contribute to reducing some negative effects of captive breeding. Several essential oils (EO) and their components have bioactivities on animal physiology and metabolism including antioxidants, anticholesterolemics, antimicrobials, and insecticidal, among other. The aim of this research was to evaluate if the modification of quail diet, supplementing it with the EO components thymol or isoeugenol, could have an effect on the production of flies in poultry litter, a sanitary and economic poultry related issue. Manure samples deposited in the previous 0 to 48 hs by quail that were fed with a supplementation of 2000 mg thymol, isoeugenol per kg of feed or no supplement (control) were collected. Each 200g sample (6 replicates per treatment) was incubated in a container inside an emergence cage. Cages were inspected daily and adult flies that emerged were collected for 40 days. The effect of quail feed supplementation on the number of emerging flies, species composition and emergence times were assessed. Significantly less fly emerged from manure from the thymol treatment (P < 0.05) and a tendency to lower emergence was observed from isoeugenol (P = 0.09). Significantly fewer Musca domestica emerged from thymol (P<0.01) or isoeugenol  (P<0.01) manure than from the control. No significant differences between treatments were detected in diversity indexes (P>0.05), or development times of Musca domestica or the other frequent species Ophyra aenescens and Muscina stabulans (P = 0.40). Results suggest that the modification of the quail diet with thymol or isoeugenol (at least at the assessed concentration) may have a moderate effect against flies, leading to a reduction in the number of Musca domestica emerging.