Dietary Lactobacillus fermentum and Lactobacillus paracasei improve the intestinal health of broilers with coccidia and Clostridium perfringens challenge

A total of 336 1-day-old healthy Rose 308 broilers with uniform weight were randomly assigned to 4 treatments. There were 6 repetitions in each group, and 14 broilers with half male and female in each repetition. The broilers in the control named CTR group were fed with the basal diet and without coccidia and C. perfringens nemed CCP challenge, the basal diet was formulated according to the standard of NRC 1994. The broilers in the CCP group were fed the basal diet and challenged by CCP. The C. perfringens was purchased from China Veterinary Microbial Culture Collection and Management Center, and the coccidia was purchased from Foshan Zhengdian Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Birds in the CCP with LF and CCP with LP groups were also treated with CCP, and additionally, the diets of CCP with LF and CCP with LP groups were supplemented with LF and LP, respectively, and feeds were formulated once a week. The animal trial lasted for 35 days. On day 9 of the trial, 20 times the dose of coccidial vaccine was administered into the crop of broilers in the CCP, CCP with LF and CCP with LP groups, the birds in CTR group were treated with equal volume of normal saline. From day 13 to 18 of the trial, the broilers in the CCP, CCP with LF and CCP with LP groups were challenged with C. perfringens. The ileal chyme on day 13 and day 19 were collected, and the DNA of bacteria was extracted for sequencing.