A microencapsulated mixture of flavoring substances in a model of coccidiosis in broilers

The aim of this study was to test the anticoccidial activity of a microencapsulated blend of flavoring substances in vivo in broilers artificially infected with Eimeria cocci. A total of 1,500 day-old chicks (Cobb 500) were divided in pens (50 chicks/pen) and assigned to 3 groups (10 pens/group): negative control (NEG), fed a basal diet, not challenged; positive control (POS), fed a basal diet, challenged; treated (TRT) group, fed a basal diet supplemented with a microencapsulated blend of flavoring substances at 250 g/MT, challenged. The challenge consisted of an oral inoculation with a multispecies Eimeria inoculum at day 21. The study lasted 42 days with intestinal lesions and oocysts per gram (OPG) of feces determined on day 28, and growth performance recorded throughout the study. Data were analyzed with ANOVA and differences considered significant at P<0.05. In the first week after the infection, the challenge did have a negative impact on growth performance for the POS group compared to the NEG control, while the treated group, despite the challenge, showed already significantly better body weight gain and FCR. From the cocci challenge to the end and for the overall period, FCR of TRT group was comparable to the NEG not-challenged group (P<0.001). Moreover, TRT group showed reduced intestinal lesion scores for Eimeria spp. at d28 (P<0.05) and numerically lower fecal shedding of oocysts compared to POS group. To conclude, the microencapsulated blend of flavoring substances used in this study has the potential to contain loss of performance and intestinal lesions associated with coccidiosis challenge in broiler chickens.