By Jane Byrne, 03-Nov-2008
Related topics: Public Concerns
Researchers from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in collaboration with a scientist from Farleigh Dickinson University, claim that the hob plant (Humulus lupulus) contains bitters acids which are powerful antimicrobials and can be used to control pathogenic bacteria in the intestines of chickens.
The scientists focused on one compound of the hob plant in particular, lupulone, and assessed its ability to control levels of C. perfringens in chickens.
The ARS group said the study, which was published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, was triggered by the need to find alternatives to antibiotic use in poultry feed as several types of bacteria are building resistance to antibiotics.
The research will be of interest to meat processors as bacteria such as C. perfringens in the intestines of chickens can cause contamination of meat during processing and can also result in significant production losses by causing disease in the broiler chicken, explained the researchers.
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