Effect of dextran prebiotic on experimentally inducedCoccidiosis in broilers (Ross Strain) by Lesion scoringtechnique

Cocciodiosis is one of the most important parasitic diseases of poultry that is caused by protozoa of the genuseimeria. Due to increasing regulations with the use of prophylactic drugs, high cost of vaccines, and escalatingconsumer’s interest on naturally-raised chickens, much interest has been devoted toward the development of alternative strategies to control avian coccidiosis. For example, prebiotics can be useful. Dextran, which is a glucosepolymer and has recently been under investigation as a prebiotic. dextran can promote the growth of benefcallactic acid bacteria in the intestines and boosting immune system, it can be speculated that, this effect promotes thehealth and productivity of poultry. There are not any studies about effect of this prebiotic on poultry coccidiosis.The hypothesis tested was that the feeding of dextran will suppress the lesion scores of a coccidiosis infectionin broilers. To evaluate the effect of dietary dextran, a total of One hundred and twenty 1-day old broiler chicks(Ross 308) were purchased from a local hatchery and randomly allocated to 6 groups of 20 birds each. Four groupsreceived the supplemented diet with dextran (experiment groups) and the other two groups were fed the basal diet(control groups). The experimental diet was prepared by adding a dextran preparation at a level of 1.5 g/kg diet.On day 21, Four groups fed the supplemented diet and one group fed the basal diet were challenged with 4 dilutedmixture of Eimeria containing sporulated oocysts of E. acervulina, E. maxima, E. tenella and E. necatrix. On day27 0f the experiment, 4 birds per group, were randomly selected, euthanized by cervical dislocation. The intestinewas removed, opened and coccidial intestinal lesion scored. The results of this experiment showed the mean oflesion score did differ signifcantly between the infected birds fed the diets without or with dextran in same dosesof sporulated oocyst inoculation.