It’s well known that there are two types of antibiotics commonly used in livestock and poultry veterinary clinics: one is the antibiotics obtained by biological fermentation, such as penicillin, tylosin, erythromycin, neomycin, spectinomycin, lincomycin, etc.; the other type is antibiotics obtained by chemical synthesis, such as florfenicol, enrofloxacin, sulfamethoxine and so on. However, there is another kind of antibiotic, which is neither fermented nor synthesized. It is an antibiotic that grows from the ground — allicin…
Allicin is a volatile oil extracted from the bulbous bulbs of garlic. It is a mixture of diallyl trisulfide, diallyl disulfide, methallyl disulfide, etc.
Allicin has a strong garlic smell and spicy taste. It is a trithioallyl ether compound that naturally exists in the bulb of Liliaceae plant garlic. Among them, the trisulfide has a strong inhibitory and killing effect on pathogenic microorganisms, and the disulfide also has a certain antibacterial and bactericidal effect.
Physical and chemical properties
It is light yellow powder or light yellow oily liquid, and generally has a strong odor. The boiling point is 80–85°C (0.2kPa), and the relative density is 1.112 (20/4°C). Soluble in ethanol, chloroform or ether. The solubility in water is 2.5% (mass, 10°C), the pH value of its aqueous solution is 6.5, and oily precipitates are formed when standing. It is unstable to hot alkali and stable to acid.
Pharmacological action
It has a good inhibitory effect on a variety of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, and also has an effect on dysentery bacillus, E. coli, Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigatus and some viruses. Among them, it has a strong effect on Escherichia coli, Shigella, Enterococcus, Enterococcus, etc.
Allicin has strong antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects, and has inhibitory or killing effects on a variety of cocci, bacilli, fungi, and viruses. The effective rate is 80%-95% for respiratory tract, digestive tract, intestinal diseases, etc., especially as a compound prescription ingredient of various antibiotics, it has a good synergistic effect on the treatment of livestock and poultry related diseases.
Working mechanism
A large number of experimental studies have proved that the antibacterial and anti-infective effects of allicin are mainly achieved by participating in cellular immunity and increasing the activity of lysozyme in serum. For example, it activates the secretory function of the body’s monocytes to release a large amount of lysozyme.
Lysozyme can hydrolyze the mucopolypeptide in the bacterial cell wall, increase the permeability of the bacterial cell wall, and allow hypertonic body fluid to enter the cell, causing the cell to swell and crack and cause the bacteria to die, so as to play a role in anti-bacterial and anti-infection.
Allicin can stimulate appetite, increase gastric juice secretion, and enhance gastrointestinal peristalsis. According to this, it has a strong effect of attracting food and promoting food digestion.
Applicable opportunities
- Improve production performance. Allicin can not only increase the feed intake of animals, but also prevent and treat a variety of diseases, improve immune function, improve the functions of various systems and tissues in animals, promote gastrointestinal peristalsis and secretion of various digestive enzymes, and improve animal husbandry fish digestion and utilization of feed, thereby improving production performance and reducing feed costs
- Improve the survival rate of animals. Garlic has the functions of relieving, sterilizing, preventing and curing diseases. Adding 0.1% allicin to the feed of chickens, pigeons and other animals can increase the survival rate by 5% to 15%.
- Increase appetite. Allicin can increase gastric juice secretion and gastrointestinal peristalsis, stimulate appetite and promote digestion. Adding 0.1% allicin preparation to feed can enhance the palatability of feed.
- After the animal is ingested, the skin is bright, the physique is strong, the disease resistance is enhanced, the survival rate is improved, and it has an ideal health care function.
- Mildew and insect repellent. It can effectively kill all kinds of molds, has a significant anti-mold effect, inhibits the growth of fly maggots, reduces the hazards of mosquitoes in farms, extends the shelf life of feed, and improves the breeding environment.
- Antibacterial effect: Allicin can inhibit the reproduction of dysentery bacillus and typhoid bacillus, and has obvious inhibitory and killing effect on staphylococcus and pneumococcus. Clinically, oral allicin can treat animal enteritis, diarrhea and loss of appetite.
Research progress
In order to solve the poor stability of allicin and the smell of garlic, some studies have done a one-step iodization treatment on allicin to produce iodinated modified allicin. In this way, it not only improves the stability and eliminates the peculiar smell of allicin, but also makes its clinical use effect more obvious. The amount added in the feed is generally 0.1%.
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