Turmeric Powder: Potential Alternative to Antibiotics in Broiler Chicken Diets

The gradual increment of the human population resulted in an increased demand for animal protein in developing countries. To satisfy the need for animal protein, synthetic antibiotics were incorporated into broiler chickens’ diets to stimulate growth and rapidly increase production performance. This is a significant problem since the resistance of antimicrobial can be derived from antibiotics’ abusive usage. The antibiotic immunity is of great public health concern because the antibiotic-resistant bacteria linked with the animals may be infective to humans, easily transmitted through food chains to humans, and widely disseminated via animal waste in the environment. These can cause complex, which somehow prolonged human infections leading to higher healthcare costs and often death. There is an urgent need for the agricultural industry to develop strategies to substitute antibiotics for food-producing animals, especially poultry and livestock. Turmeric (Curcuma longa Linn.) is one of the many medicinal herbs promising agricultural products as natural feed additives in poultry diets. It is the primary source of phenolic compounds such as curcumin, bisdemethoxycurcumin, demethoxycurcumin, and tetrahydrocurcuminoids. Several trials of the utilization of turmeric in poultry have been conducted using the in vitro and in vivo methods, and it was found out that turmeric and its derivatives have antimicrobial properties. The use of turmeric powder as feed additives and supplements have been recommended as an alternative to antibiotics for broiler chicken production. The purpose of this review is to discuss the antimicrobial property of turmeric powder and its effect on broiler chicken in terms of performance and meat quality.