Improves Performance and Lowers Oocyst Counts in Challenged Broilers.

Coccidiosis is one of the main challenges for the worldwide poultry industry, and several anticoccidial treatments have been used to fight these protozoa. Resistance of parasites against anticoccidials-and the public opinion about these treatments-demands for alternatives. In this trial, we tested (500 g/T) as a natural alternative in broilers challenged with . This treatment was compared to three other treatments: An unchallenged control, a challenged control, and a challenged anticoccidial (625 g/T) treatment with focus on performance, oocyst per gram counts (OPG), and lesion scores. Both the anticoccidial and the group showed significant improvement in body weight (2.150 and 2.058 vs. 1.998 and 1.971 kg). growth (60.2 and 57.6 vs. 55.8 and 55.1 g/d). and feed-conversion ratio (1.456 and 1.510 vs. 1.527 and 1.575), compared to both control groups. No significant differences were found between the treatments on OPG collection days 18 and 25. On day 35, lowest OPG counts were found in the unchallenged group (93), followed by the group (114), the anticoccidial group (243), and the challenged group (650). Adding abolished the effect of the challenge resulting in comparable (FCR) or better (ADG) performance results compared to the unchallenged birds. consistently showed lower numbers for OPG counts compared to the anticoccidial and challenged group. Therefore, can be considered as an effective alternative for anticoccidial treatment in broilers.