Effects of Pediococcus- and Saccharomyces-based probiotic (MitoMax) on coccidiosis in broiler chickens.
Coccidiosis is the major parasitic disease of poultry. In this study, the role of the commercial probiotic MitoMax which contains Pediococcus acidilactici and Saccharomyces boulardii was evaluated by measuring body weight gain, fecal oocyst shedding, and serum antibody responses as an alternative control method of prophylactic drug against coccidiosis. Day-old broiler chicks were fed regular or probiotic diets supplemented with MitoMax at 0.01%, 0.1%, or 1.0% of diet, and challenged 2 weeks later with 5000 oocysts of either Eimeria acervulina (EA) or Eimeria tenella (ET). Birds fed 1.0% or 0.1% MitoMax-supplemented diets in EA- or ET-infected groups shed less (P<0.05) oocysts than control-infected chickens. Also, chickens fed 0.1% MitoMax-supplemented diet and infected with EA exhibited higher (P<0.001) serum Eimeria-specific antibodies than other groups. These results demonstrate that MitoMax may enhance the resistance of birds against coccidiosis by enhancing humoral immunity when included at > or = 0.1% of the broiler diet.
Lee
Sunghyen
S
Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Animal and Natural Resources Institute, Agricultural Research Service-USDA, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA.
Lillehoj
Hyun S
HS
Park
Dong W
DW
Hong
Yeong H
YH
Lin
J J
JJ
D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D002645:Chickens; D003048:Coccidiosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*; D004539:Eimeria / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000276:immunology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000662:veterinary; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D010270:Parasite Egg Count / Q000662:veterinary; D010376:Pediococcus; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019936:Probiotics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D012440:Saccharomyces
D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan