Role of dietary supplementation with plant origin carotenoids (curcumin and lutein) for the control of eimeria-challenged broiler chickens

Abstract

The influence of anti-coccidial naturally occurring plant origin carotenoids (curcumin and lutein) in Eimeria-challenged broiler chicks were tested. A total of 200, day-old commercial Arbor Acres chicks were reared for 42 days. The chicks were weighed individually and randomly assigned into equally 4 treatment groups having 5 replicates. Chicks of control group T0 were raised on a basal diet with no supplement. The chicks of group T1, T2 and T3 were supplemented with curcumin 300 mg/kg, lutein 300 mg/kg, and curcumin plus lutein 150 mg each with per kg of feed, respectively. On day 21 all the chicks were challenged with Eimeria maxima. The findings of this study revealed that among all the groups feed intake, body weight gain and feed efficiency remained statistically unchanged (P>0.05). A significantly higher (P0.05) shank color and skin b* value (yellowness). Our conclusion showed that application of curcumin single or in combination with lutein may promote skin pigmentation, lowered liver injury, and exhibit a better anti-coccidial impact.

Keywords

• broilers
• carotenoids
• curcumin
• lutein
• eimeria
• feed efficiency