The UGM Student Team consisting of Jacyntha Orinetha, Jihan Kaamillia Salsabil (Veterinary Medicine, 2018), and Salsabiela Millennia Putri (Pharmacy, 2019) investigated the potential of Temulawak (Curcuma xanthorrhiza) in the form of nanoemulsions as an alternative to Antibiotic Growth Promoter (AGP) in broiler chickens. They use ginger nanoemulsion because it is considered more easily absorbed by the body and has good antioxidant and antibacterial activity.
The research funded by Program Kreativitas Mahasiswa Bidang Riset Eksakta (PKM-RE) started from their concern about the case of using AGP mixed in broiler chicken feed. It is known to increase antibiotic resistance in various microbes and cause health problems, especially for humans who consume chicken.
Jacyntha and her friends think that besides being an alternative to AGP, temulawak also contains curcumin compounds from the terpene group. These compounds are known to have good antioxidant and antibacterial activity.
“The reason why we use temulawak is it is not only easy to find but also has high antibacterial and antioxidant activity. However, because it is insoluble in water, it is less effective when used,” said Salsa.
Jacyntha, as team leader, said that broiler chickens are among the animal production sector with the highest use of antibiotics in feed. Since the government banned the use of AGP in animal feed in 2018, several sources say there are still people who secretly use AGP in feed due to the lack of alternatives to AGP.
If this keeps happening, cases of microbial resistance to antibiotics, including E. coli, would continue to occur. Therefore, they conducted this research to solve this problem in the future.
The research was conducted both online and offline under the guidance of Anggi Muhtar Pratama. The result revealed that administering temulawak nanoemulsion at a dose of 4 mg/kg BW increased broiler productivity, showed good health status, and avoided amoxicillin and ceftriaxone antibiotic resistance in E. coli. However, the temulawak nanoemulsion still needs to be further investigated to produce more comprehensive research data.
