Dietary supplementation with Thymol reduces Japanese quail fear behaviour

LUNA, A.; LABAQUE, M.C.; ZYGADLO, J.A.; MARIN, R.H.

Nantes

Congreso; XVII Congress of the World Veterinary Poultry Association; 2013

World Veterinary Poultry Association (WVPA)

In recent years, dietary supplementation with essential oil or their compounds has been proposed as an animal nutrition strategy because they could possess a variety of beneficial bioactive properties. In poultry, Thymol (main compound of Oregano essential oil) has been shown to improve the oxidative stability of eggs and meat during storage. In vitro evidence shows that Thymol can also act as a positive allosteric modulator of the GABAA receptor, similar to its analogue phenolic compound Propofol, but with significantly lower potency. Thus, it is conceivable that Thymol would show fear reducing and/or sedative properties. The present study evaluates potential fear reducing properties of Thymol feed supplementation and its potential effects on locomotor activity by assessing adult Japanese quail (N=168) behavioral responses respectively during brief mechanical restraint (5 min) and open-field (10 min) tests.