Anticoccidial activity of salinomycin in floor-pen experiments with broilers.

The anticoccidial agent salinomycin (AHR-3096) was compared at various treatment levels (60 to 100 p.p.m.) in two experiments against unmedicated and either 100 or 121 p.p.m. monensin-medicated groups to evaluate its performance under floor-pen conditions. Various methods for the initial rearing of birds and coccidial exposure were employed to test the efficacy of salinomycin against severe, moderate, and mild coccidiosis. Salinomycin at all treatment levels showed definite anticoccidial activity resulting in improved weights, feed conversion ratios, lesion scores, and mortality compared with unmedicated controls. In pens with severe coccidiosis, this compound demonstrated a significant improvement in all parameters when compared with the corresponding unmedicated controls. Salinomycin-treated pens exposed to light coccidiosis usually had a numerical increase in the parameters over the unmedicated control groups. Statistical analysis of overall main effects on mortality, weight gain, and feed conversion ratio showed no significant differences between the activity of any level of salinomycin and monensin.