ROLE OF ESSENTIAL OILS/VOLATILE OILS IN POULTRY PRODUCTION - A REVIEW ON PRESENT, PAST AND FUTURE CONTEMPLATIONS

Nowadays, poultry production has high demand worldwide. For this purpose, performance parameters are maximized, for example, fast-growing of chicken with low usage of feed and with the better health status of the flock. This increasing demand has led to the use of many antibiotic-free products. There is an increased pressure to decrease the amount of antibiotics used as bacteriostatic or bactericidal agents for poultry, so there is an utmost need for unconventional resolutions to sustain the productivity and efficacy of poultry. Among the substitutions, essential oils (EOs) have a prodigious potential and are usually thought to be natural, free from hazardous deposits and chemicals, and less toxic. EOs are plant-based extracts, and there are about 3,000 known EOs, out of which 300 are identified as useful and commercially important. It is proven that EOs have abundant in vitro and in vivo research to yield special effects on numerous pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. The current review provides information on the fundamentals of EOs, the anti-oxidation and immunomodulatory characteristics, the growth-promoting
effects, and the activities of EOs against a variety of pathogens in animals/poultry.