Nanotechnology is the science and technology of small and specific things that are <100 nm in size. Because of the size of nanomaterials, new changes in their chemical and physical structure may occur, and indicate higher reactivity and solubility. Many of nanotechnology applications in food and agricultural production are being developed in research and development settings. Global challenges are related to animal production, including environmental sustainability, human health, disease control, and food security. Nanotechnology holds promise for animal health, veterinary medicine, and some areas of animal production. Nanotechnology has had application in several other sectors, and its application in food and feed science is a recent case. Especially, natural nano antimicrobials obtained from different techniques such as nano-propolis are useful to veterinary medicine in terms of health, performance, and reliable food production. Nano-propolis is a nano-sized (1–100 nm in diameter) propolis particles tied together to make it more effective without changing its properties by changing the size of propolis by different methods. Propolis have many advantages such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer and antifungal activity, etc. The consumption of free form of propolis restricts these benefits due to low bioavailability, low solubility, low absorption, and untargeted release. Different nanoencapsulation technologies are used to obtain nano-propolis. Nano-propolis are more easily absorbed by the body because they have a size smaller. Nano-propolis is also more effective than propolis in terms of antibacterial and antifungal activity. This review focuses on some recent work concerning the uses of nanotechnology in animal health or human health using animal models, and the effectiveness of nanotechnology on natural supplements such as propolis used in animal nutrition and animal health.

In this study, we investigated the antioxidant activity of ethanol extracts of propolis (EEP) and vitamin C on biochemical indicators and antioxidant enzyme activities of broilers exposed to heat stress (at 34 °C). The experimental groups were as follows: group I (positive control) and group II (control) were fed a basal diet, group III (vitamin C) was fed a basal diet supplemented with 250 mg vitamin C as ascorbic acid/kg, group IV (EEP-0.5) was fed a basal diet supplemented with 0.5 g EEP/kg, group V (EEP-1) was fed a basal diet supplemented with 1 g EEP/kg, group VI (EEP-3) was fed a basal diet supplemented with 3 g EEP/kg. Plasma superoxide dismutase levels of positive control, control, vitamin C, EEP-0.5, EEP-1 and EEP-3 groups were found as 0.34, 1.23, 0.50, 0.90, 0.30 and 0.41 μkat/ml, respectively ( p < 0.01). Aspartate transaminase (except for EEP-0.5 and EEP-1 groups) and alkaline phosphatase in the control group were significantly higher than those of positive control, vitamin-C and EEP-3 groups. Malondialdehyde level in plasma, liver and muscle tissues of control group were found significantly ( p < 0.05) higher than those of positive control and EEP-3 groups. Catalase activities of blood, liver, kidney and heart were the highest in the control group. Reduced glutathione activities of plasma and liver of all groups were not significantly different from each other, whereas those of muscle, kidney and heart were significantly higher in the control group. Significantly lower levels of glutathione peroxidase were found in blood, liver and kidney tissues of the control group ( p < 0.05), whereas those of muscle and heart were similar in all groups. The results of the present study suggest that EEP and specially EEP at the supplemented dose of 3 mg/kg diet might be considered to prevent oxidative stress in the broilers exposed to heat stress.

In this study, the effects of propolis and vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) supplementation in diets were investigated on feed intake (FI), body weight (BW), body weight gain (BWG), feed conversion rate (FCR) and digestibility and on egg production and qualities (weight, mortality, shell thickness) in laying hens exposed to heat stress. A total of 150 Hyline White Leghorn, aged 42 weeks, hens was divided into five groups of 30 hens. Chicks were randomly divided into 1 positive control, 1 control and 3 treatment groups. The chicks were kept in cages in temperature-controlled rooms at 22°C for 24 h/d (positive control, Thermoneutral, TN group) or 34°C for 9 h/d from 08.00-17.00 h followed by 22°C for 15 h (control, heat stress, HS group) and fed a basal diet or basal diet supplemented with vitamin C (250 mg/kg of L-ascorbic acid/kg of diet) or two levels of propolis (2 and 5 g of ethanol extracted propolis/kg of diet). Increased FI (p<0.05) and improvement in FCR (p<0.05), hen day egg (p<0.05) and egg weight (p<0.05) were found in Vitamin C and propolis-supplemented laying hens reared under heat stress conditions. Mortality rate was higher in the control group than TN, vitamin C and propolis groups (p<0.05). Digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein and ether extract improved with increasing of both dietary vitamin C and propolis (p0.05). However, the egg shell thickness and egg shell weight appeared to be increased in Vitamin C and propolis groups in comparison to HS group birds (p<0.05). In conclusion, dietary supplementation of laying hens with anti-oxidants (vitamin C and propolis) can attenuate heat stress-induced oxidative damage. These positive effects were evidenced by increased growth performance and digestibility, improvement of egg shell thickness and egg weight in comparison to non-supplemented birds. Moreover, supplementation with propolis (5 g/kg diet) was the most efficient treatment.