Effect of Probiotics on the Performance and Intestinal Health of Broiler Chickens Infected with <i>Eimeria tenella</i>

oleh: Muhammad Mohsin, Ziping Zhang, Guangwen Yin

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-01-01

Deskripsi

Coccidiosis is an important parasitic disease of poultry with great economic importance. Due to drug resistance issues, the study was conducted to investigate how probiotics (<i>Lactobacillus plantarum or L. plantarum</i>) affected oocysts per gram of feces (OPG), fecal scores, feed conversion ratio (FCR), immunomodulatory effect in terms of the cell-mediated and humoral immune response. Serum chemistry (ALT, AST, LDH, and creatinine) was measured in different treated chicken groups. mRNA expression levels of antioxidant enzymes (SOD 1 and CAT), peptide transporter 1 (PepT 1), and tight junction proteins (ZO and CLDN 1) were also examined in chicken groups infected with <i>Eimeria tenella (E. tenella).</i> Chickens supplemented with <i>L. plantarum</i> 1 × 10<sup>8</sup> CFU (colony-forming unit) showed an improved cell-mediated and humoral immune response, compared with the control group (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Probiotics also enhanced the performance of antioxidant enzymes, PepT 1, and tight junction proteins, and improved serum chemistry (AST, ALT, and LDH), compared with control-infected, non-medicated chickens. However, no significant difference (<i>p</i> > 0.05) was observed in CLDN 1 expression level and creatinine in all treated chicken groups. These findings demonstrated that probiotics supplementation in the feed can protect the birds against <i>E. tenella</i> infection.