Effects of vaccination against coccidiosis, with and without a specific herbal essential oil blend, on performance, oocyst excretion and serum IBD titers of broilers reared on litter

Figures & data

Table 1 Ingredients and analyzed composition of the experimental starter, grower and finisher diets.

	Starter	Diets Grower	Finisher
Ingredients
Corn, g/kg	369.78	396.52	431.50
Wheat, g/kg	200.00	200.00	200.00
Soybean meal, g/kg	355.69	319.42	284.62
Soy oil, g/kg	34.50	45.76	49.27
DCP, g/kg	17.50	16.70	15.84
Limestone, g/kg	11.34	9.10	8.72
Sodium chloride	2.40	2.75	2.64
L-Lysine HCL, g/kg	1.00	0.00	0.00
DL-methionine, g/kg	2.05	2.75	2.21
L-threonine, g/kg	0.64	0.50	0.20
Vitamin premix°, g/kg	2.50	2.50	2.50
Mineral premix#, g/kg	1.00	2.50	1.00
Sodium bicarbonate, g/kg	0.60	0.50	0.50
Sawdust, g/kg	1.00	1.00	1.00
Analyzed composition
Dry matter, %	88.43	88.48	89.02
Crude protein, %	22.43	20.92	19.42
Ether extract, %	5.84	7.02	7.45
Crude fibre, %	3.24	3.29	3.19
Crude ash, %	6.27	5.81	5.52
Ca, %	1.05	0.94	0.89
Total phosphorus, %	0.70	0.67	0.64
Calculated composition
ME, kcal/kg	3013	3161	3203
Available phosphorus, %	0.46	0.44	0.42
Lysine, %	1.26	1.07	0.97
Methionine, %	0.55	0.52	0.49
Methionine+ cysteine, %	0.96	0.92	0.84
Threonine, %	0.89	0.82	0.73
Linoleic acid, %	2.81	3.45	3.69

DCP, digestible crude protein.

° Provides per kg of diet: vitamin A, 12,000 U; vitamin D³,1500 U; vitamin E, 75 mg; vitamin K³, 5 mg; vitamin B¹, 3 mg; vitamin B², 6 mg; vitamin B⁶, 5 mg; vitamin B12, 0.03 mg; nicotine amid, 40 mg; calcium-D-pantothenate, 10 mg; folic acid, 0.75 mg; D-biotin, 0.075 mg; choline chloride, 375 mg.

# Provides per kg of diet: Mn, 80 mg; Fe, 40 mg; Zn, 60 mg; Cu, 5 mg; I, 0.5 mg; Co, 0.2 mg; Se, 0.15 mg; ME, metabolizable energy.

Table 2 Bioactive components of the essential oil blend.

Compound	Compound
Carvacrol, %	24.5	α-Pinene, %	2.2
1,8-Cineole, %	20.1	p-Cymene, %	2.0
Camphor, %	12.1	Terpinen-4-ol, %	1.9
Thymol, %	5.9	α-Terpineol, %	1.6
α-Fenchone, %	4.5	α-Pinene, %	1.5
α-Terpinyl acetate, %	3.6	Camphene, %	1.4
Sabinene, %	3.2	α-Terpinene, %	1.1
Bornyl acetate, %	2.3	Unidentified, %	12.1

Table 3 Body weight and mortality of birds challenged with experimental coccidiosis at 19 days old of age.

Age of chickens, days	Uninfected	Infected					SEM	P
	CNT	CNT	MON	VAC	EOB	VAC + EOB
Body weight, g
Day 0	40.23	40.46	40.35	40.51	40.37	40.29	0.29	0.6649
Day 18	736^a	736^a	726a	665c	690b	660^c	7.86	0.0001
Day 30	1441^a	1352^b	1377^b	1340^b	1262^c	1341^b	20.67	0.0001
Day 42	2365^a	2251^b	2304^ab	2285^ab	2123^c	2276^ab	33.33	0.0001
Mortality, %
Day 0-18	0.50	0.95	1.55	0.00	0.00	0.50	0.542	0.3474
Day 19-30	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	1.00	0.00	0.400	0.4457
Day 31-42	1.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	1.00	0.576	0.5640
Day 19-42	1.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	1.00	1.00	0.708	0.7006
Day 0-42	1.50	0.95	1.55	0.00	1.00	1.50	0.826	0.7606

CNT, control; MON, monensin sodium; VAC, vaccinated against coccidiosis; EOB, essential oil blend;

a,b,c means in the same row with a different superscript letter are significantly different (P<0.05).

Table 4 Body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio of birds administrated with monensin sodium, live attenuated vaccine or essential oil blend.

Age of chickens, days	Uninfected	Infected					SEM	P
	CNT	CNT	MON	VAC	EOB	VAC + EOB
Day 0-18
BWG, g	697^a	697^a	686^a	625^b	650^b	620^b	10.44	0.0001
FI, g	1068	1072	1074	1032	1069	1052	13.28	0.2587
FCR	1.533^b	1.538^b	1.565^b	1.653^a	1.646^a	1.696^a	0.025	0.0005
Day 19-30
BWG, g	703^a	614^ab	651^ab	675^a	573^b	681^a	22.93	0.0498
FI, g	1329	1317	1378	1380	1254	1351	41.63	0.3163
FCR	1.904^b	2.158^a	2.123^ab	2.056^b	2.193^a	1.987^b	0.033	0.0416
Day 31-42
BWG, g	924	899	927	945	860	935	27.38	0.3140
FI, g	1956	1961	1969	1938	1847	1933	41.72	0.4018
FCR	2.123^ab	2.183^a	2.114^ab	2.052^b	2.149^ab	2.066^b	0.032	0.0381
Day 19-42
BWG, g	1628^a	1514^ab	1578^a	1620^a	1433^b	1616^a	46.30	0.0488
FI, g	3285	3278	3338	3318	3101	3284	70.98	0.2629
FCR	2.018^c	2.167^a	2.117^ab	2.051^bc	2.166^a	2.032^bc	0.029	0.0038
Day 0-42
BWG, g	2325^a	2211^ab	2264^a	2245^a	2083^b	2237^a	50.91	0.0483
FI, g	4353	4347	4412	4350	4170	4337	75.32	0.3542
FCR	1.872^c	1.967^ab	1.949^ab	1.939^b	2.003^a	1.939^b	0.018	0.0066

CNT, control; MON, monensin sodium; VAC, vaccinated against coccidiosis; EOB, essential oil blend; BWG, body weight gain; FI, feed intake; FCR, feed conversion ratio;

a,b,c means in the same row with a different superscript letter show significant difference (P<0.05).

Table 5 Effects of dietary anticoccidial treatments on excretion of oocysts in broiler chickens infected with mixed Eimeria spp. at 19 days old of age.

Age of chickens, days	Oocyst excretion, 10^3/g of faeces					SEM	P
	CNT	MON	VAC	EOB	VAC + EOB
23	22.60^a	17.30^a	17.90^a	12.45^ab	9.85^b	3.16	0.0471
24	23.25^a	15.32^a	5.37^b	6.66^b	5.77^b	2.83	0.0015
25	18.15^a	17.62^a	9.42^b	15.40^a	8.10^b	1.74	0.0019
26	9.82	9.72	6.80	11.07	7.32	1.54	0.2914
27	5.60^a	6.15^a	2.97^a	5.47^b	2.92^b	0.80	0.0273
28	7.32^a	6.72^a	2.55^b	2.87^b	2.12^b	0.33	0.0001
29	15.07^a	13.05^a	6.95^b	7.60^b	4.02^b	1.43	0.0003
30	10.95^a	13.95^a	6.92^b	2.55^c	4.15^bc	1.11	0.0001
31	14.97^a	8.82^b	8.20^b	7.37^b	8.45^b	1.41	0.0116
32	4.90^a	4.20^ab	3.42^ab	1.15^c	2.70^bc	0.63	0.0079
33	5.50^a	4.45^ab	2.25^c	1.37^c	2.52^bc	0.66	0.0029
34	2.90^a	3.42^a	1.02^b	0.97^b	1.37^b	0.31	0.0001
Mean	11.75^a	10.00^a	6.15^b	6.24^b	4.94^b	0.83	0.0001

CNT, control; MON, monensin sodium; VAC, vaccinated against coccidiosis; EOB, essential oil blend;

a,b,c means in the same row with a different superscript letter show significant difference (P<0.05).

Table 6 Serum IBD titers of birds subjected to different oral anticoccidial procedures.

Age of chickens, days	Uninfected	Infected					SEM	P
	CNT	CNT	MON	VAC	EOB	VAC + EOB
17	8905^a	7902^a	8713^a	6672^ab	5328^b	8107^a	981	0.0483
30	9355	7881	8942	7534	5988	9183	1310	0.2072
42	8678^a	4269^b	9672^a	9721^a	8073^a	8305^a	1020	0.0498

CNT, control; MON, monensin sodium; VAC, vaccinated against coccidiosis; EOB, essential oil blend;

a,b,c means in the same row with a different superscript letter show significant difference (P<0.05).

Table 7 Carcass yield, relative weight of liver, spleen and caecum, and intestinal length of birds treated with monensin sodium, live attenuated vaccine or essential oil blend after an experimental coccidial infection.

Groups	Carcass weight, g	Carcass yield, %	Liver, %	Spleen, %	Caecum weight, %	Intestinal length°, cm
Uninfected control	2072	79.13	2.39	0.111	0.333^c	233^bc
Infected control	2053	78.40	2.39	0.105	0.443^a	254^a
Infected MON	2051	77.85	2.22	0.107	0.375^bc	240^bc
Infected VAC	2010	77.74	2.19	0.115	0.380^b	233^bc
Infected EOB	2032	79.12	2.39	0.095	0.371^bc	227^c
Infected VAC+EOB	2068	78.35	2.35	0.113	0.384^b	238^bc
SEM	27.06	0.60	0.08	0.008	0.015	6.06
P	0.5953	0.4386	0.4083	0.5248	0.0004	0.0164

MON, monensin sodium; VAC, vaccinated against coccidiosis; EOB, essential oil blend;

° duedonum+jejunum+ileum+colon;

a,b,c means in the same row with a different superscript letter show significant difference (P<0.05).