Macleaya cordata is a kind of Chinese herbal medicine plant, the alkaloids extracted from Macleaya cordata have strong anti-inflammatory, bactericidal and anti-tumor functions. Alkaloids plays an important role in enhancing animal immunity, improving animal growth performance and feed conversion rate in livestock and poultry production. This article summarized the main components, separation and extraction methods, toxicity and pharmacological activities, and the application status in livestock and poultry production, in order to provide theoretical basis for the rational application of Macleaya in livestock and poultry production.