In vitro and in vivo anticoccidial effects of butyric acid and its impact on blood and serum chemistry of broiler chickens

Abstract

Present study was aimed to evaluate the anticoccidial activity of butyric acid by both in vitro and in vivo methods. In vitro trial was conducted by sporulation inhibition assay to examine the infl uence of butyric acid on sporulation and damage of coccidian oocysts. Administration of various concentrations of butyric acid induced sporulation inhibition and also damaged coccidian oocysts in dose dependent manner. For in vivo trials, 72 (day-old) broiler chicks were randomly divided into 6 groups i.e., A, B, C, D, E and F having equal chicks in each group (n=12). After one week of acclimatization, three doses of butyric acid 1.2%, 1% and 0.8% were given to group A, B and C, respectively while group D was named as positive control (infected medicated), group E was named as negative control (infected and non-medicated) and group F served as normal control (non-infected) group. On the same day, all treated groups were orally infected with 50.000 sporulated oocysts of Eimeria tenella. Results revealed that administration of butyric acid induced positive eff ect on chicken"s performance such as weight gain, FCR and anticoccidial parameters like lesion and oocysts score, oocyst per gram. Butyric acid also improved hematological values and serum chemistry of broiler chicken.

Keywords

• butyric acid
• eimeria
• treatment
• anticoccidial eff ect
• broiler
• chicken