Abstract
Avian coccidiosis is an economically important disease in the poultry industry. In view of the disadvantages of anti-coccidial drugs in chickens, edible plants and their compounds are re-emerging as an alternative strategy to combat this disease. A previous publication reported that the edible plant B. pilosa showed promise for use against coccidiosis. Here, we first investigated into the anti-coccidial effects of B. pilosa. We found that B. pilosa at 100 ppm or more significantly suppressed E. tenella as evidenced by reduction in mortality rate, oocyst excretion and gut pathological severity in chickens and its minimum prophylactic duration was 3 days. Next, we explored the mode of action of anti-coccidial mechanism of B. pilosa. The E. tenella oocysts were not directly killed by B. pilosa; however, administration of the plant suppressed oocyst sporulation, sporozoite invasion, and schizonts in the life cycle of E. tenella. Besides, B. pilosa boosted T cell-mediated immunity. Finally, we characterized the related anti-coccidial phytochemicals and their mode of action. One of three potent polyynes present in B. pilsoa, Compound 1 (cytopiloyne), acted against coccidiosis in chickens in a similar manner to B. pilosa. These data illustrate the anti-coccidial potency and mechanism of B. pilosa and one of its active compounds, and provide a cornerstone for development of novel herbal remedies for avian coccidiosis.
Highlights
It is estimated that 50 billion chickens are raised annually worldwide
With an eye to development of B. pilosa as a feed additive to prevent coccidiosis in chickens, here we explored its in vivo efficacy as measured by the minimum effective dose and minimum prophylactic duration
B. pilosa improved the body weight loss in chickens challenged with E. tenella (Table 1).The data suggest that the minimum effective dose of B. pilosa is 0.01% (100 ppm)
Summary
It is estimated that 50 billion chickens are raised annually worldwide. The parasitic disease coccidiosis costs the poultry industry an estimated 3 billion US dollars per year due to high mortality, poor growth and high medical costs[1,2,3]. Due to low efficiency and the disadvantages of current anti-coccidial drugs and vaccines[4,5,6], edible plants and/or natural products are being considered as possible viable alternative substituents. Despite considerable progress over recent years, safety, efficacy, and the mechanisms of the modes of action of edible plants and their compounds still require further study if they are to be considered a viable alternative to current anti-coccidial approaches[7]. We previously reported that B. pilosa manifests high anti-coccidial activity and low induction of drug resistance in Eimeria parasites[18,21]. Www.nature.com/scientificreports the identities of its anti-coccidial compounds are unknown, which currently limits the commercial use of B. pilosa in the poultry industry. We confirmed the anti-coccidal action of its bioactive compounds in chickens
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