Effect of dietary zinc oxide nanoparticles on growth performance and Clostridium perfringens infection in broiler chicken

Abstract

The aim of this work was to study how different concentrations of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZONPs) affected broiler chicken resistance and susceptibility to C. perfringens challenge, as well as growth performance and intestinal morphology. A total of 84 Ross-308 broilers, 7 days of age were randomly divided into 7 treatment groups: first group (negative control), second group  basal diet only (posi-tive control), third group (positive control treated with amoxicillin), fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh groups  basal diet supplemented with 10, 20, 30, and 40 mg ZONPs per kg ration, respectively. All treatments were replicated 4 times, with three birds in each pen. All groups were inoculated orally with 5×104 sporulated coccidial oocyst, and after 5 days, the same groups were challenged orally with 2 mL broth culture with 1.8×108 CFU/bird of C. perfringens type A, for 3 successive days. Our find-ings showed that ZONPs used as a feed additive, inhibited C. perfringens proliferation in the intes-tine. ZONPs supplemented groups had significant (P0.05). Chicks supple-mented with ZONPs showed superior disease resistance and superior growth efficiency. Furthermore, 20 and 40 mg/kg ZONPs improved growth performance and intestinal parameters compared to other concentrations. As a result, ZONPs may be used in poultry feed as an alternative to antibiotics.

Keywords

• c. perfringens
• growth performance
• intestinal morphology
• zinc oxide nano¬particles