Oryasin Asude Gulce, Eren Hasan
Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Aydin Adnan Menderes University, Aydin, Turkey.
Acta Parasitol. 2025 Jan 24;70(1):25. doi: 10.1007/s11686-024-00967-z.
This study aimed to assess the anticoccidial effects of betaine and a vaccine compared to monensin sodium in experimentally induced coccidiosis in broiler chickens.
600 day-old broiler chickens (Ross 308) were randomly assigned to five groups, each with four replicates of 30 birds. While the control group received a basal diet, two experimental groups received basal diet supplemented with either 100 mg/kg monensin sodium or 2.0 g/kg betaine. The remaining experimental groups received a commercial coccidiosis vaccine alone or in combination with betaine. All chickens were challenged with sporulated field-mixed Eimeria species at 20 days of age.
Throughout the study, vaccinated birds showed superior performance in terms of body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared to other anticoccidial treatments (P < 0.05), followed by betaine, vaccine + betaine, and monensin treatments in descending order. While all anticoccidial regimens significantly reduced fecal oocyst output only at the beginning of the observation period, this effect diminished thereafter (P < 0.05). Supplementation with monensin and vaccination against coccidiosis significantly decreased small intestine weight compared to untreated controls (P < 0.01), with a numerical decrease observed in chicks fed betaine-supplemented diets and treated with the combination of betaine and vaccine.
Notably, there has been no prior study comparing betaine with monensin sodium and a coccidiosis vaccine. These findings suggest that dietary betaine supplementation and a commercial coccidiosis vaccine containing mixed Eimeria spp. may offer benefits in controlling coccidiosis, presenting viable, cost-effective, sustainable, and safe alternatives to conventional ionophore anticoccidials, with added benefits of no residue and reduced resistance hazards for both animal and human consumption.
本研究旨在评估在实验性诱导肉鸡球虫病的情况下，甜菜碱和一种疫苗与莫能菌素钠相比的抗球虫效果。
600只1日龄肉鸡（罗斯308）随机分为五组，每组四个重复，每组30只鸡。对照组接受基础日粮，两个实验组分别接受添加100mg/kg莫能菌素钠或2.0g/kg甜菜碱的基础日粮。其余实验组单独接受商业球虫病疫苗或与甜菜碱联合使用。所有鸡在20日龄时用田间混合的孢子化艾美耳球虫种类进行攻毒。
在整个研究过程中，与其他抗球虫处理相比，接种疫苗的鸡在体重增加（BWG）和饲料转化率（FCR）方面表现出更优的性能（P < 0.05），其次是甜菜碱、疫苗 + 甜菜碱和莫能菌素处理，顺序依次递减。虽然所有抗球虫方案仅在观察期开始时显著降低了粪便卵囊产量，但此后这种效果减弱（P < 0.05）。与未处理的对照组相比，添加莫能菌素和接种球虫病疫苗显著降低了小肠重量（P < 0.01），在饲喂添加甜菜碱日粮并接受甜菜碱和疫苗联合处理的雏鸡中观察到数值上的下降。
值得注意的是，此前没有关于甜菜碱与莫能菌素钠和球虫病疫苗进行比较的研究。这些发现表明，日粮中添加甜菜碱和含有混合艾美耳球虫种类的商业球虫病疫苗可能在控制球虫病方面具有益处，为传统离子载体抗球虫药提供了可行、经济高效、可持续且安全的替代方案，还具有无残留以及降低动物和人类消费中耐药性风险的额外益处。
