Coccidiosis is the most relevant parasitic disease in poultry worldwide. It is caused by different species of Eimeria and generates large economic losses every year.

After sexual reproduction in the gut, the different species of Eimeria generate forms of resistance known as oocysts that are eliminated with feces and, after sporulation, can infect other birds. The concentration of oocysts in feces gives us an idea of the level of infection in birds and, therefore, the risk for productive parameters to be affected by the disease.

Intestinal optimizer pronutrients are active molecules of a botanical origin that stimulate the local immunity of the gut and improve the ability of the intestinal epithelium to break the cycle of coccidia by avoiding its multiplication.

Objective

Evaluate the effect of intestinal optimizer pronutrients on reducing the shedding of Eimeria oocysts in broilers vaccinated against coccidiosis.

Material and methods

The trial was conducted in the United States. 40.000 broiler chickens were used, from day 1 today 50 of age. All animals were vaccinated against coccidiosis at the first day of life. The farm where the trial was carried out suffered recurrent outbreaks of coccidiosis despite vaccination, especially during the last weeks of the productive cycle. Two experimental groups were established:

• Control group: basal diet, no coccidiostats.

• Experimental group: basal diet without coccidiostats + intestinal optimizer pronutrients from day 26 to day 40 of life, at a dose of 1 ml/l in drinking water.

Oocyst shedding was evaluated in each experimental group every two weeks. Productive parameters could not be evaluated due to a climate event that occurred during the trial.

Results

A marked difference was observed at the end of the cycle in the shedding of Eimeria oocysts between the two experimental groups. In the group with intestinal optimizer pronutrients, the shedding at 42 days of life was reduced by 73.5% compared to the control group (figure 1).

In the case of E. tenella, the difference in oocyst shedding between the control group and the group with intestinal optimizer pronutrients at the end of the trial was 68.1% (figure 2).

Differences in oocyst shedding were especially marked in the case of E. maxima, in the control group, about 35,000 oocysts per gram were observed, while in the group with intestinal optimizer pronutrients, about 6,000 oocysts per gram were observed, which means a reduction of 80.1% compared to the control group (figure 3). It should be noted that E. maxima is one of the main predisposing factors of necrotic enteritis, therefore, the reduction in the oocyst shedding of this specie contributes indirectly to the control of necrotic enteritis.

At the same time, shedding of E. mitis oocysts was evaluated. A decrease of 53.5% in oocyst shedding was observed in the group with intestinal optimizer pronutrients compared to the control group (figure 4).

Conclusion

The shedding of Eimeria oocysts is related to the level of infection presented by animals and, therefore, to the risk that productive parameters will be affected.

The use of intestinal optimizer pronutrients reduces the shedding of Eimeria oocysts by 73.5%, with a reduction of 68.1% in the case of E. tenella, 80.1% in the case of E. maxima and a reduction of 53.3% in the case of E. mitis.

Therefore, the use of intestinal optimizer pronutrients allows to reduce the level of infection in chicken so that productive parameters are not affected.

Intestinal optimizer pronutrients are marketed under the name Alquernat Zycox from Biovet S.A.