Poultry production in many developing communities is frequently characterized by management challenges and low productivity and is faced with several other constraints. Of growing concern is that climate change may be impacting chicken growth and development, and ultimately overall poultry production. Temperature is considered the most important factor of all bioclimatic parameters affecting livestock. As summer approaches, poultry farmers face increased challenges in maintaining the respiratory health of their flocks. High temperatures, humidity, and ammonia buildup can lead to severe respiratory distress, impacting growth, feed conversion efficiency, and overall productivity.

The Hidden Dangers of Summer Stress in Poultry

Mammals mainly rely on sweat glands to dissipate heat and maintain body temperature balance, but poultry lack sweat glands, so they primarily dissipate heat through respiration when the temperature is too high. High-frequency breathing leads to increased susceptibility to lung tissue damage in a heat-stress environment. The heat or summer stress not only brings lowered performance in poultry but also leads to immunosuppression issues, which makes them more susceptible to bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic infections. It results in disease outbreaks and causes heavy mortality.

Why Is Summer a Critical Period for Poultry?

• Alters antibody and cell-mediated immune responses, thereby immunosuppressing effect and increasing susceptibility to pathogens.
• Vaccine failures are common in the summer season.
• Summer stress also results in immunodeficiency and disease outbreaks in poultry.
• Heat stress in summer leads to reduced feed consumption, lower body weight gain, a high feed conversion ratio (FCR), and dehydration.
• It also causes a variety of changes in the gastrointestinal tract, including alteration of the protective microbiota as well as decreased integrity of the intestinal epithelium, increasing enteric infections such as Necrotic Enteritis.
• An increase in energy demands and high mortality are observed due to heat stress.

Observations in Poultry During Summer:

• Panting (open-mouth breathing) – Rapid, shallow breathing to promote evaporative cooling.
• Increased respiratory rate and lung injury – Faster breathing as birds attempt to release excess heat.
• Wing spreading – Birds extend their wings to enhance airflow and dissipate heat.
• Seeking ventilation – Birds move to well-ventilated areas, such as near feeders, perches, or wires, to cool down.
• Reduced feed intake – Decreased food consumption helps minimize metabolic heat production.

Poultry Management in Summer:

• Water management- Ensure clean, cool, and continuous water supply.
• Housing management- Proper ventilation, shading, and cooling techniques.
• Feed management- Adjust nutrition to support heat-stressed birds.
• General management- Biosecurity measures to prevent disease outbreaks.

Alleviate Summer Stress Naturally

Phytogenic feed additives (PFAs, or botanicals) can alleviate the negative effects of heat stress during the summer. They are broadly defined as plant-derived bioactive compounds, often incorporated in animal feed as blends of herbs, spice extracts, and essential oils. Phytogenic feed additives enhance the first line of defence against respiratory issues that arise during summer in poultry. The bioactive components in phytogenic substances provide their positive characteristics, while the phenolic constituents in plant products act as antioxidative molecules, making them beneficial for the health and growth of poultry.

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Feed intake is one of the most crucial factors affecting animals’ growth, health, and productivity. The choice of animal feed relies on various factors, including past feeding experiences, sensory characteristics, post-ingestive feedback, and physiological conditions. Ruminants like cattle can detect sweet, sour, salty, and bitter flavors, but their Sensitivity levels differ from those of humans. With approximately 25,000 taste buds and 1,186 olfactory gene receptors, cattle are highly responsive to feed taste, making palatability a crucial consideration in feed formulation.

The Importance of Palatability in Feed Formulation

Palatability is determined by the feed’s taste, smell, temperature, and texture. However, palatability cannot be treated simply as feed quality because it depends on experience and the present nutritional condition of the animal. Low feed quality due to seasonal variations, raw material fluctuations, and economic constraints can impact feed acceptance. Additionally, factors such as diet changes, high temperatures, climate variations, and changing feed formulations can reduce palatability and negatively impact animal performance.

Factors affecting the palatability of feed

Lower palatability reduces FCR and nutrient intake, eventually impacting farmers’ productivity and profitability. The most efficient and cost-effective way to improve the palatability is by using Flavours in feed.

The Role of Flavors in Feed

Flavors, a non-nutritive palatability enhancer, improves the aroma and taste of feed, stimulating a sensory response that encourages animals to eat. It increases the animal’s appetite, improving feed intake and performance. Reduced feed consumption, especially during stress conditions such as weaning, transportation, or illness, can weaken young calves and lactating cows. Flavors help improve feeding, providing optimal nutrition and performance.

The functional use of flavors in animals’ diets increases a sensory response in animals’ appetite for feed intake. This eventually improves animals’ health, growth, and reproductive performance.

Benefits of adding flavors to feed 

• Enhances feed intake by improving palatability.
• Hinders unwanted tastes of vitamins and minerals.
• Improves diet consistency by providing uniform taste across feed variations.
• Supports cost-effective feed formulations like agricultural by-products without impacting palatability.

Natural Flavors in Cattle Feed

Natural flavors in cattle feed contain plant-based sources, essential oils, and other naturally present compounds that improve feed palatability and reduce dependency on synthetic flavors. These flavors help stimulate appetite, improve digestion, and feed intake, especially during conditions like weaning or dietary transitions.

Common natural flavors of cattle feed include greengrass, molasses, vanilla, and banana. Molasses and vanilla add sweetness, making feed more appealing, while greengrass and hay flavors mimic the natural grazing experience. These natural flavors make feed more palatable and support better nutrient absorption, helping cattle get optimal health and productivity.

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Aquaculture is a rapidly growing industry, but one of the biggest challenges faced by fish farmers is stress in fish. Stress can negatively affect growth, immunity, reproduction, and overall health, which leads to economic losses. Various environmental, physiological, and management factors contribute to stress in fish, including poor water quality due to low oxygen levels, ammonia, and nitrate accumulation, handling and transportation, high stocking density, temperature fluctuations, and disease outbreaks. Stress in fish has significant economic consequences in aquaculture, affecting production efficiency, profitability, and sustainability. The shrimp industry has experienced cumulative losses of around $10 billion since 1990 due to diseases, with stress factors playing a significant role.

Impact of Stress on Fish

The stress response in fish is primarily regulated by the production of two major hormones: corticosteroids (mainly cortisol) and catecholamines (epinephrine and norepinephrine). Primary responses contribute to the secondary stress response, affecting various physiological functions related to fish adaptation. Long-term stress results in a tertiary response that adversely affects the fish’s growth, behavior, swimming ability, feeding, and immunity.

Signs of Stress Observed in Fish

• Sluggishness
• Lack of feeding activity
• Slow growth
• Molting difficulties
• Hyperactivity
• Death

Stress Management

If the stressor is chronic, the immune response shows suppressive effects, and hence the chances of an infection may be enhanced in fish. Therefore, immune stimulants, along with feed nutrients and additives that reduce stress, are common commercial fish health management solutions to address disease concerns. Antibiotics, chemotherapeutics, and disinfectants are all commonly used for managing fish infections. However, adverse consequences include the rise of microorganisms resistant to antibiotics, antibiotic residues in fish products, chemical genotoxicity and cytotoxicity, and overall environmental contamination. Thus, there is a need for alternatives for adopting sustainable aquaculture farming.

Functional Feed: Natural Way to Manage Stress

Specialized plant-derived nutrition serves as an alternative strategy designed to limit or reduce the adverse effects of a disease without requiring therapeutic intervention. Many bioactive compounds identified in herbal feed additives, such as terpenoids, polyphenols, isothiocyanates, tannins, saponins, and alkaloids, can all stimulate the immune system. These strategies are known as functional feeds. Functional feeds primarily focus on enhancing and supporting the natural immunological defenses of the animal. This approach boosts the animal’s capacity to manage biological and physiological responses to stressors while strengthening physical barriers between the animal and its environment.

Herbo C AQUA

Vitamin C is an essential component of fish feed, as most fish are not able to synthesize vitamin C due to a lack of enzyme L-gulonolactone oxidase. Still, they can achieve it from external sources. Herbo C AQUA is a plant-derived natural and highly bioavailable form of vitamin C coupled with herbal bioactive compounds with anti-stress, adaptogenic, and immunomodulatory activity. It helps to regulate and alleviate stress, facilitates wound healing, and supports tissue regeneration. Additionally, Herbo C Aqua increases survivability and boosts farm profitability.

How Does It Work?

It works by…

• Providing natural antioxidant (Vitamin C)
• Promoting nutrient utilization
• Maintaining osmoregulation
• Supporting collagen synthesis and metabolism

Benefits – 

“Sustainable Stress Management in Aquaculture”

 

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Aquaculture farming is highly prone to diseases, affecting productivity and profitability of the farmer. The major challenge in aquaculture is the parasitic infestations, which can highly impact fish health and farm economics. Among various parasites, Argulus sp., or fish lice, is one of the most concerning challenges for fish farmers worldwide. This ecto-parasite attaches itself to fish, feeding on their blood and bodily fluids, causing Argulosis.

Understanding Argulus Infestation

Argulus is a crustacean ectoparasite, commonly known as the “fish louse.” In fisheries, high infestations can cause a rapid loss of performance and even death. Even moderate infestations can reduce production and distress the fish, impacting the economic viability of fisheries.

Life cycle of Argulus –

The reproduction and development of Argulus are dependent on the specific season. Egg-laying usually begins when temperatures exceed room temperature and stops during winter. More population growth is observed in summer than throughout the year. Parasite numbers decline with the winter, although all developmental stages (particularly the egg strings) can survive.

How do Argulus affect the fish?

Argulus can cause considerable damage to fish through their attachment and feeding behavior. They feed on fish by inserting a long spine-like structure called the stylet into the skin, which eventually breaks down tissues through the secretion of enzymes. The repeated damage to the skin, combined with the activity of the serrated parasite mouth, can cause substantial damage and irritation.

Signs of infestation –

Argulus can be found attached to the skin, gills, and mouth of fish during heavy infestations. The symptoms of infestation include

Spot Haemorrhages –

• Anaemia
• Fin and Scale loss

Increased Mucus Production –

• Lethargy
• Erratic Swimming
• Reduced Feeding
• Flashing or Rubbing

Synthetic chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide, formalin, alpha-cypermethrin, deltamethrin, emamectin benzoate, trichlorofon, and diflubenzuron were used against Argulus. But the prolonged use of these chemicals can lead to chemical residues in fish, the development of resistance in parasites, and environmental pollution. Plant-derived phytochemicals offer a natural alternative for controlling Argulosis.

DEHOOK, an ectoparasite reliever, contains a combination of plant-derived bioactive components that have a strong antiparasitic effect. It inhibits Argulus by impacting molting and cell proliferation. DEHOOK also helps to reduce infestation and enhance host immunity, avoiding all the unintended negative impacts on the environment.

Benefits –

• Effectively manages Argulus infestation
• Prevents weight loss and mortality
• Reducing dependency on synthetic chemicals

Combat Argulus infestation naturally without compromising fish health or farm productivity. DEHOOK offers a powerful, plant-derived solution that effectively controls Argulus, boosts fish immunity, and reduces stress.

Fight Argulus and Boost Fish Health with DEHOOK! 

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A stress-free environment is crucial in poultry production. There are several types, such as cold stress, heat stress, high stocking density, and diseases that can affect birds and cause many unfavourable changes. Stress reduces feed intake and growth, as well as impairs immune response and function, resulting in high susceptibility to disease. These effects are correlated with higher corticosteroid levels along with the induction of excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and thus oxidative stress. Stress affects the performance, health, and welfare of commercially reared birds and alters their meat and egg quality, thus endangering the sustainability of the poultry industry.

Types of Stress in Poultry:

 

 

 

Biological Changes in Poultry Due to Stress:

1. Behavioral changes

Stress leads to reduced feed intake, decreased movement and walking activity, elevation of the wings to enhance heat dissipation, and a significant increase in energy demand as the animal struggles to maintain normal homeostasis in the body.

2. Physiological changes

Different types of stress induce oxidative stress, disrupt acid-base balance, and alter the cecal microbial profile, leading to digestive and metabolic complications.

3. Neuroendocrine changes

Stress disturbs the hormonal balance of birds by increasing the secretion of the stress hormone, i.e., corticosterone. It also reduces the biosynthesis of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone, thereby affecting reproductive function.

4. Production changes

Under stressful conditions, animals experience higher mortality rates, reduced body weight gain, poor meat quality, and a decline in both the quality and quantity of eggs produced.

Dietary Formulation Strategies

Several approaches have been considered to boost bird immunity to overcome stress-associated effects. Of these, dietary supplementation of certain nutrients and management modifications, such as light management, are commonly considered. Following are a few examples of dietary strategies:

1. Dietary fat
2. Essential amino acids
3. Dietary electrolytes

 

Role of Vitamin C in stress management:

Vitamin C plays a crucial role in boosting immunity, reducing stress, enhancing growth, and improving overall performance in poultry. It is required to maintain normal body metabolic activities to meet physiological requirements. It exhibits antioxidant effects. Generally, vitamin C can be synthesized by poultry, but the synthesis is reduced or the requirements for vitamin C are increased in poultry during times of environmental, nutritional, or pathological stress.

Hence, vitamin C-enriched feed is the most effective alternative to mitigate the negative impacts of stress on poultry.

 

Are Synthetic Vitamins as Good as Natural:

                                                                                                                    Herbo C

Herbo C is a powdered herbal blend of plants with a high vitamin C content. It provides a natural source of vitamin C for birds, which acts as an immunomodulator and stress buster in birds. Herbo C modulates cytokine secretions and histamine release, thereby showing an enhanced first line of defense. It is also a rich source of antioxidants, which help in optimizing the body’s resistance against various infectious diseases and reducing mortality in young chicks. It is a natural anti-stress and apoptogenic for chicks and birds.

“Immunity, Productivity, and Stress Protection—All in One Natural Solution”

 

*References on request