Use of Flower of Spilanthes paniculata Wall. ex DC as Growth Promoter in Divyan Red Poultry Birds

Spilanthes paniculata Wall. ex DC, syn. S. acmella Murr., a medicinal plant, commonly known as “Phakphet, Akarkara or toothache plant”, belongs to Asteraceae family, frequently available in most of the areas of India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, China, Japan and Thailand; is apparent in the indigenous system of medicine for its use in toothache, rheumatic fever (Asma et al., 2019), throat and gum infections (Chung et al., 2008) and wound healing (Hossan et al., 2010). In literature, it has been found to be mentioned under the generic names of Acmella, Athronia, Bidens and Anacyclus (Flann, 2009). The flowers are yellow in colour and consist of a number of disc florets. The plants, growing ubiquitously in the plateau region, are generally considered as weed. All the plant parts are used in medicinal formulations but mostly flower buds and leaves are the major sources. A range of pharmaceutical content such as spilanthol, alkaylamide, affinin, proteins, butylated hydroxy toluene (BHT), stigmasterol, saponine, β-sitosterol, α and β-amyrin and fatty acids (n-hexadecanoic acid and tetradecanoic acid) etc., have been reported to be found in this species. Hence, the high demand of pharmaceutical industries for these drugs has led to over exploitation of plants and in future it may go under endangered or threatened category (Hemant and Dnyanoba, 2019). The plant is also reported as aphrodisiac (vajikarna) and restoring premature ejaculation (veeryastambhana) in ancient ayurvedic texts by repairing neurological problems (Jani, 2007). Many literatures reported the biochemical constituents of flower heads of S. paniculata and their ethno-botanical and ethno-medicinal uses mainly in human health management. Several workers have highlighted different properties like anticancer (Ferrazzano et al., 2011; Lopez-Alarcon and Denicola, 2013), antidiabetics (Yadav et al., 2011), anti-inflammation, analgesics (Chakraborty et al., 2010), antifungals (Khatoon et al., 2014), antimicrobials, antibacterials (Sahu et al., 2011; Sharma et al., 2012), antioxidants (Tanwer et al., 2010), antiallergic, antiulcer, anticonvulsant, antiobesity, antiprotozoal, antihypertension (Paulraj et al., 2013; Dubey et al., 2013), immunomodulatory (Sahu et al., 2011), appetizer (Leng et al., 2011) and antiaging properties with improved blood circulation in the body (Paulraj et al., 2013). In addition, Sharma et al., (2011) has reported its effect on rats as well. In spite of plethora of literature emphasizing the medicinal value of all plant parts and their important role in human and animal health, there is complete lack of literature indicating its use for feeding livestock and poultry. Plants of S. paniculata are found growing abundantly in wild flora of Jharkhand.

Backyard poultry production and management of poultry birds on commercial scale is one of the major livelihood components in Jharkhand for rural farming community. However, no recorded information could be traced on use of flowers of S. paniculata as a feed supplement in poultry birds. In the light of above facts, an experiment was conducted during 2016-19 to explore the possibility and to quantify the effect of use of flowers of S. paniculata as feed additive in stimulating body growth in poultry.

An experiment was conducted in the Poultry unit of ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Farming System Research Centre for Hill and Plateau Region, Plandu, Ranchi, Jharkhand during 2016-19 to study the effect of flower of S. peniculata used as feed additives in stimulating body growth in poultry birds. In total, 60 numbers of poultry birds (Divyan Red) of five months old were subjected to four treatments i.e., T₁ (Control), T₂ (feeding birds with 10 g dried flowers per bird), T₃ (feeding birds with 15 g dried flowers per bird) and T₄ (feeding birds with 20 g dried flowers per bird) (Table 1), consisting of 15 birds in each treatments distributed equally in each 5 replications following randomized block design (RBD).
 

 
For this experiment, fresh flowers (i.e. flower head excluding flower stalk) of S. paniculata  (Fig 1) were collected from the research farm during the months of March-April, 2016 and then kept for one week in loosely knit plastic bags for air drying. The dried flowers were then ruffled by hand using cotton cloth (Fig 2). The flower mixture (dried flower) was then weighed and added to the daily feed of recommended doses (i.e., the feed composition formulated as per institutional guidelines balancing all the nutritional ingredients, mentioned in Table 2) given to the birds at varying proportions based on the treatments (Table 1) and number of birds. The measured quantity of feed offered  once in a day at morning 10: 00 A.M. in hanging feeder to the birds during the period of experiment @ 140 g/bird/day (with or without treatments). Water was provided ad libitum throughout the experimental period. Routine vaccination and treatment was provided as and when required. Deworming of birds was done at the beginning of experiment. Before feeding the birds, their initial body weight was recorded following weekly measurements fixed on 7^th day, 14^th day, 21^st day and 28^th day of experiment. The final bodyweight of each bird of same age group were then compared treatment-wise. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) was calculated as the ratio of total amount of feed consumed to the amount of weight gained. Lesser the FCR value, better is the treatment’s effect on increased body weight in birds. The same procedure was repeated in two consecutive years viz., 2017-18 and 2018-19. The nutrient composition in the dried flowers was analyzed in laboratory using standard methodology (A.O.A.C., 1980).
 

 

 

 
Statistical analysis
 
Data recorded were analysed using Systat-12 software (Wilkinson and Coward, 2007) for computation of descriptive statistics (i.e., mean, standard deviation and critical difference). ANOVA test for computing the significant differences between different treatments was also carried out.

The nutrient composition in the flowers of S. paniculata was analyzed before adding the dried flowers into already given recommended feeds to poultry. The moisture content in the fresh flowers was measured as 69.32 ± 1.68%. Whereas, the minerals (ash content) and organic matter content in dry flowers were recorded as 7.04% and 92.96%, respectively (Fig 3). On dry weight basis the result showed that, the flowers were having crude fibre (66.09 ± 1.70%), crude fat (7.39 ± 0.58%), protein (9.74 ± 0.51%) and antioxidants (0.18 ± 0.02%) on dry weight basis. The nutrient contents viz., Nitrogen (1.56 ± 0.09%), Phosphorous (0.63 ± 0.02%), Potassium (2.05 ± 0.14%), Calcium (0.4 ± 0.01%), Magnesium (0.12 ± 0.01%) and Sodium (0.42 ± 0.02%) in dried flowers were also analyzed (Table 3).
 

 

 
The result revealed that, there were significant differences among different treatments (Table 4). The increased body weight of 570 ± 25 g in birds was recorded as the maximum increase due to feeds added with dried flowers of S. paniculata when compared with the control (269 ± 37 g). The feed conversion ratio (FCR) was found minimum (6.93 ± 0.30) in treatment T₂ (10 g of dried flower per bird per day i.e., 10 g/bird/day) and was considered as best while compared with other treatments. Among all the treatments, treatment T₂ (i.e., 10 g/bird) was found the best dose of dried flower of S. paniculata added daily in the recommended poultry feed when compared with the control (T₁), followed by treatments T₃ (i.e., 15 g/bird) and T₄ (i.e., 20 g/bird) in that order.
 

 
 
The percent increase in body weight of poultry after feeding different doses of dried flowers of S. paniculata daily for four weeks revealed that, there was a significant effect on their body weight of each bird (Fig 4). Among all the treatments, T₂ (i.e., 10 g/bird) had stimulated maximum growth of 25.11% increase over the initial body weight of birds, followed by T₃ (19.99 %), T₄ (16.68 %) and the least growth was recorded as 12.11% in T1 (Control).
 

 
No mortality was observed in any of the experimented birds. When compared the increased body weight of poultry attained from different feed constituents on weekly basis, initially there was a sudden and maximum increase of body weight of birds after one week of feeding dried flower of S. paniculata @ 20 g/bird (i.e., T₄) which gradually decreased in the following weeks (Fig 5). Whereas, treatment T₂ (i.e., 10 g/bird) was found to be a good growth stimulant, which had induced maximum body weight in the birds after feeding for 4 weeks (Table 4). The increased body weight of birds may be attributed to combined effects of properties like antioxidants (Tanwer et al., 2010), hepatoprotective (Ali et al., 2013), diuretic (Yadav et al., 2011), immunomodulatory (Sahu et al., 2011), antifungal (Rani and Murty, 2006), antibacterial (Sahu et al., 2011), aphrodisiac (Jani, 2007; Sharma et al., 2010), anti-inflammatory and analgesic  (Chakraborty et al., 2010). Moreover, the biochemical constituent like spilanthol present in the flower might have helped in increasing salivation and improving appetite in birds. Similar observations have been reported in human beings by Barbosa et al., (2016). They mentioned that spilanthol present in the flower extract increases salivation, which improves appetite in human beings. The effect on the growth performances of poultry birds with respect of increased body weight could also be due to having different levels of dietary crude protein (Srilatha et al., 2018). Zia et al., (2018) observed that body weight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were improved in Aseel chickens when fed with selenium enriched yeast supplemented diets.  Ahmad et al., (2019) also opined that fermented rice bran showed beneficial effect on broiler performance and could be used in poultry feed as phytase source.
 

Marked increase in body weight of poultry birds was observed during the period of observation by feeding dried flowers of S. paniculata at all doses i.e., 10, 15, 20 grams per bird per day. There is a gradual decrease in rate of weight increase with increasing duration of feeding S. paniculata to poultry birds @15 and 20 g/day while @ 10 g/day there was an increase up to 2nd week and it gradually declined afterwards. A dose of 10 g of dried flowers of S. paniculata per bird per day was found the best for inducing weight increase in poultry when fed for 4 weeks regularly. Therefore, poultry owners may be advised to incorporate dried flowers of S. paniculata at a dose of 10 grams per bird per day for at least three weeks.