Review of Literature

According to the Philippine Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (2011) a lot of broilers suffered from flu brought about by the sudden change in weather and temperature and also due to their decreased immune system. The growth of tile poultry industry in the Philippines has indeed been impressive but its problems including inefficient management and the prevalence of many destructive poultry diseases and parasites cannot be ignored (Jose 2011). To ensure continuous production of chicken and eggs, your chickens should be regularly checked by veterinarians to ensure their health. Sick chickens will negatively affect your production, so it is important to have adequate medical coverage for your poultry animals. According to Poultry Hub Development Group located at University of New England, supplements can effectively be utilized to promote growth in poultry and livestock while avoiding the dangerous phenomenon of encouraging drug resistant bacteria as in the case of antibiotic growth promoters.Kumar et al. (2003) also observed that when herbal supplements were included in broiler diets, mortality rates were reduced in the treated groups as compared to the birds fed on control diet. There have been similar experiments with similar results leading to similar conclusions that natural feed. According to International Journal of Poultry Science 2010, okune form of antibiotic was launched and was conducted as dietary inclusion of Lemmon Grass(Cymbopogon citratus) Leaf Meal (LGLM) on growth performances of broiler chickens. According to International Journal of Poultry Science LGLM has its utilized viable alternative to natural feed supplement as a form of antibiotic drug resistant bacteria as in the case of antibiotic growth promoters.

Lemongrass( Cymbopogon Citratus or Andropogon Citratus) is known to have antimicrobial properties that help to avert all kind of viral, fungal and bacterial infections, thus offering a strong resistance against both internal and external microbes. It tenders protection against all kind of microbial infections proven also in human and even in poultry production because of its main constituents of its essential oil which are the Myrcene, Citronellal, Geranyl Acetate, Nerol, Geraniol, Neral, Limonene and Citral which binds during the production of antibodies against the bacteria present on the blood circulation of the chicken. Also, lemon grass has the following therapeutic properties: analgesic, anti-depressant, antimicrobial,antipyretic, antiseptic, bactericidal, diuretic, fungicidal,insecticidal and nervous system sedative and tonic. (Leite et al., 1986). Justifying its name, the Lemongrass smells just like lemon, but it is more mild and sweet. It is not sour to taste. According Organic Facts 2011, essential oil of lemongrass is extracted with the help of steam distillation of dried lemongrass.

With all these remedies credited to Lemmon grass it is believed that some of these advantages can be harnessed and brought to bear generally in livestock production and particularly in broiler production to enhance growth and the overall production performance and thus replace the antibiotic growth promoters.