"The extract of the Yucca schidigera (Mojave or Mohave yucca)
is
also used as an additive in natural pet foods. It is reported to speed
up bowel elimination, reduce fecal and urine odor, and improve
digestion in dogs and cats. It can also be added to pet food as a spray
or drops. Several studies also show that when added to animal feed, Yucca
schidigera
extract can reduce noxious ammonia gas in the waste products of
poultry, pigs, cows, and horses. A decrease in ammonia levels can
increase egg production in chickens and milk production in dairy
cattle."
There are over 40 varities of Yucca in the US. Yucca is the name of a
family of plants scrub to small tree size. For example the Joshua tree
is a Yucca. Yucca grows in most of the Southern US with most in the
dryer Southwestern portions but I do have a few yucca plants that grow
on my place.
So my question to the AERC is which Yucca is banned or more precisely
what compound that is extracted from Yucca and which Yucca is banned.
Truman
Elizabeth Walker wrote:
That's interesting, as I *did* find a source that cited
lots of studies about the ammonia removal efficacy (mostly in chickens,
pigs and cattle. Also one in dogs/cats. No horse studies were
listed.) The same survey cited those studies as also reporting a
beneficial effect on weight gain.
On May 6, 2009, at 6:46 AM, Truman Prevatt wrote:
Several years ago I talked with Marty (Dr.
Martin Adams, Director of Equine Nutrition at Southern States) about
the "Yucca" additive to Triple Crown feeds. His comments were there is
absolutely no peer reviewed evidence that Yucca has any
anti-inflammatory effect, there is so little in the feed that in any
testing it would be below the background testing noise level and
finally the same supplement is in a lot of commercially milled feeds
although it doesn't appear on the bags. If it doesn't test - it
doesn't exist.
I was hoping the AERC drug policy would have been updated based on
science rather than hearsay. There is no peer reviewed scientific
evidence that any compound in Yucca is performance enhancing much less
in the levels that would be used to remove the nitrite radical from
urine. Major double blind studies on MSM in humans point to no more
effective than a placebo. No reason to believe the same is not true in
horses.
But yet we somehow could not shed the past and step forward in our drug
policy. It's a little better than the past but in reality only half way
there.
