Dietary alfalfa effects on chicken cecal eukaryotic communities during coccidiosis

The need for novel mitigation strategies to address avian coccidiosis in the poultry industry is increasing as available pharmaceutical compounds are becoming less effective due to resistance by Eimeria spp. and their use does not align with growing antibiotic-free production. Previous work has demonstrated that lipid-soluble compounds from late-cutting alfalfa beneficially the colon microbiota during bacterial challenge. This work was conducted to evaluate late-cutting alfalfa hay and lipid-soluble extract as a strategy to address coccidiosis in broiler chickens with emphasis on immune modulation and cecal microbial communities.