The Role of the Yucca schidigera extract in Lowering Ammonia Levels and Increasing Animal Performance

Poor performance and quality in pigs and poultry, due to high levels of ammonia gas, can be enhanced by the extract of the Yucca schidigera plant. The extract's elements, saponin and glycocomponents, produce such remarkable results and can easily be added to pig and chicken feed in either dry or liquid form.

The Yucca schidigera plant can be found only throughout the Southwestern United States and in the central Baja California desert, where it is more abundant. The Yucca schidigera plant was widely used by Native Americans of these regions for food purposes. All parts of the plant were used, including: the fruit, seeds, seed pods, flower petals, roots and leaves. Out of the Yucca schidigera plant also came herbal teas and fermented beverages, and remedies.

Today the Yucca schidigera plant is still being as an ingredient for poultry, swine, equine, bovine and pet feeds. It is employed as a organic liquid fertilizer, soil conditioner and plant growth enhancer in agriculture, and is also utilized in the production of grain conditioner surfactant. It is also used commercially as a foaming agent in root beer, alcoholic beer, shampoos, detergents and as a food supplement for humans

The Yucca schidigera extract when added to animal feed has been shown to lower noxious ammonia gases in animal wastes, dramatically curbing dangerous and foul odors. The extract has also been found to increase animal performance by lowering ruminal, intestinal and blood ammonia levels, which result in poor performance.

Ammonia gas results from the breakdown of bacteria in the uric acid of livestock manure. Temperature and moisture are catalysts in the rate of bacterial breakdown. Ammonia enters the bloodstream as a result of nitrogen metabolism or by breathing air containing high levels of ammonia.

The negative effects of ammonia on poultry and pigs begin at 25 ppm (parts per million) and become very serious at 50 ppm.

The symptoms of ammonia irritation in chickens include: watery eyes, closed eyelids, blindness, poor growth rate, and ultimately the chickens cannot find food to eat. Day-old chickens show the symptoms of ammonia exposure at four to five weeks of age. Chickens exposed to 20 ppm over a period of 42 days show pulmonary congestion, edema and hemorrhage. Chickens exposed to 40 ppm ammonia exhibited a low ability to clear E. coli from their system, making it unsafe and deadly for human consumption. At 50 ppm, the rate of infection of Newcastle virus (an airborne disease) was double that of control birds.

A decrease in egg production, food consumption, weight gain and delayed sexual maturity by as much as two weeks have also been reported as due to the presence of ammonia. Hens exposed to 100 ppm showed a reduction in respiration rate, due to negative changes in the ultrastructure of the lungs. Hens in the midst of 100 ppm for six weeks also developed Kertoconjunctivitis and showed a slowed egg production rate. Ammonia is the leading cause of Kertoconjunctivitis and Tracheitis in chickens.

Yucca schidigera extract in poultry feed can dramatically increase the performance of stock. A chicken house receiving 100 ppm of extract in the feed will experience a significant reduction of ammonia production compare to one than does not. In a two month feed study with Yucca schidigera extract in an experimental caged layer operation, ammonia levels decreased. When broiler chickens are fed with 100 ppm of Yucca extract, they grow significantly heavier than control chickens. The effects of Yucca schidigera saponins in the diet of broiler chickens is continuous throughout their growth cycle, the survival rate of the chickens and the feed efficiency increase.

In a study done with a commercial product having Yucca schidigera extract was used to lower the ammonia level in the chicks intestine, as well as lower the ascites mortality rate. In study a strong correlation was show between intestinal ammonia and ascites mortality.

The application Yucca schidigera to pig feed has also shown better performance among pigs. Pigs fed 120 ppm Yucca schidigera extract gain weight percent faster and eat more feed than those pigs receiving the same feed without any Yucca schidigera saponins.

In pigs exposure to high levels of ammonia can lead to atrophic rhinitis, a nasal condition commonly know as "ape". In young pigs, a decrease in weight gain is reported when ammonia levels reach 25 ppm.

The Yucca schidigera plant is a safe and natural answer to animal inefficiency. The use of the Yucca schidigera extract as a feed ingredient or added directly to lagoons, tanks, or litter pits has proven to be effective in reducing ammonia levels and improving performance .

It is now know that saponins, a natural steroid derived from the plant trunk, physically binds ammonia, reducing the level of free ammonia. As the food passes through the stomach, ammonia is held by the extract in the feed. It is also bound once outside the animal.

Elevated plasma ammonia and urea nitrogen are associated with reduced reproductive and milk production performance in dairy cows. Elevated blood nitrogen levels in high producing dairy cows are often a result of feeding elevated protein levels, in an attempt to support elevated milk production levels. With the addition of Yucca schidigera to dairy cow feed, plasma ammonia and urea nitrogen reduction was observed in the animals' rumen.

The use of Yucca schidigera extract in shrimp farms have reported excellent results in the reduction of the ammonia and nitrites levels, improving the water quality and consequently the farm productivity.

Conclusion:

The data presented clearly shows that the use of saponin extract of the Yucca schidigera plant in pigs, poultry, equine, pets, shrimps and other livestock feed lowers ammonia levels. These levels are hazardous to animal health, and reduction of them dramatically improve animal performance. The evidence demonstrates that saponins enhance feed efficiency and weight gain in pigs, as well as feed efficiency, weight gain, and increased egg production in chickens, along with increased egg production and milk in dairy cows. Livestock clearly benefit when the extract from this plant is included in the feed.

Because it is 100% natural, the Yucca schidigera extract is environmentally safe and is the BEST answer to naturally lowering toxic ammonia levels in the stockhouse and improving the quality and potential output of animals.

Yucca schidigera is sell for the feed industry with a few commercial products. The most common commercial brands are Biopowder M, Bioliquid 3000, Nor-ponin, De-Odorase, Micro-Aid and YS50.