Effects of three kinds of Chinese herbs on growth performance, OPG and gut microbiota in growing lambs with coccidiosis

Coccidiosis is an intestinal protozoan disease of sheep, and infection with coccidiosis can greatly affect the productivity of the sheep industry and cause significant economic losses to the development of the sheep industry. Although chemically synthesized drugs are widely used to treat coccidiosis in sheep, the anticoccidial drug resistance and drug residues in edible meat have prompted an urgent search for alternatives. This study evaluated the anticoccidial efficacy of Allium sativum L., Houttuynia cordata Thunb., Portulaca oleracea L. and the traditional anticoccidial drug diclazuril. Forty 45-day-old lambs naturally infected with Eimeria were selected and randomly divided into five groups: CON group, DS group, AS group, HC group and PO group. The results displayed that the group of sheep treated for coccidiosis had significantly improved Average Daily Gain (ADG) during both administration and withdrawal of the drug compared to the control group. In addition, the three herbs and diclazuril had similar anticoccidial effects, with lower oocysts per gram (OPG) than the control group at days 14, 21, 28 and 35, respectively. Meanwhile, on day 78, OPG was significantly lower in the three herbal groups than in the diclazuril group. In addition, the treatment with the three herbs and diclazuril altered the abundance and composition of the intestinal flora. Spearman correlation analysis was used to show further that intestinal microorganisms were correlated with OPG and ADG. In summary, our results suggest that all three herbs produce anticoccidial effects similar to diclazuril and modulate the balance of intestinal flora in growing lambs.