Coccidiosis is a parasitic disease caused by different species of the genus Eimeria. This parasitosis is characterized by lesions along the digestive tract, caused by the multiplication of these parasites inside the enterocytes. It is a disease of global prevalence and responsible for high economic losses every year.

Intestinal optimizer pronutrients normalizate local immunity of the gut, acting directly on the enterocytes and favoring the ability of the intestinal epithelium to break the coccidia cycle, preventing coccidia multiplication.

Objective

Evaluate the effect of intestinal optimizer pronutrients for the prevention of coccidiosis in broilers in combination with vaccination.

Material and methods

The trial was made in the USA during 2020. 38,100 birds vaccinated against coccidiosis were used. The first vaccine was administered “in ovo� in the hatchery. All birds received a booster vaccination at 0-4 days of age.

The birds were divided into the following experimental groups:

• Control group (19,500 birds): birds that did not receive any additional coccidiostat.
• Pronutrients group* (18,600 birds): birds that received intestinal optimizer pronutrients in drinking water at dose of 0.5 ml/L for 5 consecutive days, from day 20 to day 25.

The farm where the trial was conducted suffered recurrent episodes of coccidiosis from week 3 of life. Weekly mortality, average daily gain and feed conversion rate were assessed in both groups.

Results

Mortality was significantly higher in the control group with a cumulative mortality of 8.16%, while in the group with intestinal optimizer pronutrients it was 4.63%, which implies a reduction in mortality of 43.26%.

The average daily gain was higher in the group supplemented with pronutrients with an average value of 61.69 g/day, 6.25% higher than in the control group, which obtained an average value of 58.06 g/day.

At the same time, the pronutrients group achieved a feed conversion rate (FCR) of 1.66, while the control group obtained a FCR of 1.88, which means an improvement of 11.7% by using pronutrients.

Conclusion

The use of intestinal optimizer pronutrients is an effective tool for the prevention of coccidiosis in combination with vaccination.

The addition of these active molecules of botanical origin allows to reduce mortality by up to 43.26% and, at the same time, improve the productive parameters of birds, increasing the average daily gain by 6.25% and reducing the FCR by 11.7%.

Intestinal optimizer pronutrients are marketed under the name Alquernat Zycox from Biovet S.A.