Intestinal health of broilers challenged by Eimeria spp. using functional oil blends two physical forms with or without ionophore

The aim of this study was to evaluate the commercial mixture of functional oil cashew nutshell liquid and castor oil (FO) in two physical forms and compare them with the association of virginiamycin with salinomycin (Sal) in broilers challenged with coccidiosis. A total of 1760 one-day-old broilers were distributed in a completely randomized design with 8 treatments with 10 replicates of 22 birds each. Treatments were: control (without additive), OFS_0.75 (FO spray 0.75kg/t), OFP_1.0 (FO powder 1.0kg/t), OFP_1.5 (FO spray 1.5kg/t), Sal (salinomycin 66ppm), Sal_Vir (virginiamycin 16ppm and salinomycin 66ppm), Sal+OFS_0.5 (salinomycin 66ppm plus FO spray 0.5kg/t), and Sal+OFP_1.0 (salinomycin 66ppm plus FO powder 1.0kg/t). All birds were gavaged with 1 ml of water containing sporulated oocysts of E. tenella (5x103), E. acervulina (2.5x104), and E. maxima (2.0x104) at 14 days of age. The physical form of the FO did not influence the performance. At 42 days, broilers from the control and OFS_0.75 yielded the lowest LW, being lighter than the Sal_Vir and Sal_OFP_1.0 treatments, which were the heaviest (P<0.05). The OF reduced the presence of oocysts in the enterocyte and Clostridium perfringens. Although, the use of the individual phytogenic additive did not prevent the weight loss of birds challenged with Eimeria but reduced the effects of infection by modulating the intestinal microbiota. There was a synergistic effect between the functional oil blend and salinomycin with a promising effect on virginiamycin in the combination of products.