Abstract
This study aimed to assess the effects of glutamine as feed additive on performance and intestinal mucosa morphometry of broiler chickens vaccinated against coccidiosis. A total of 400 day-old male chicks were randomly assigned to four treatments (NVNG – no vaccination, no glutamine supplementation; NVG – no vaccination, glutamine supplementation (10 g kg−1); VNG – vaccination, no glutamine supplementation; VG – vaccination, glutamine supplementation) replicated four times with 25 birds per replicate. A commercial sprayed-on vaccine against coccidiosis containing Eimeria acervulina, E. maxima, E. mivati, and E. tenella was administered at the hatchery. Broiler performance was evaluated from 1-28 days, and morphometric parameters were analyzed at 14, 21, and 28 days of age. Body weight gain and feed intake were negatively affected by vaccination, but not by glutamine. Vaccination increased crypt depth in the duodenum and jejunum at 21 and 28 days. In conclusion, this study showed that glutamine was not able to increase weight gain of broiler chickens, irrespective of whether the animals were vaccinated or not against coccidiosis. Glutamine supplementation was able to improve feed conversion in vaccinated birds suggesting trophic effect on intestinal epithelium improving.
Highlights
Coccidiosis is a parasitic disease responsible for great economic loss in the poultry industry due to reduced broiler performance and higher costs of therapeutic and prophylactic intervention (Kawazoe et al, 2005)
This study aimed to assess the effects of glutamine as feed additive on performance and intestinal mucosa morphometry of broiler chickens vaccinated against coccidiosis
A commercial sprayed-on vaccine against coccidiosis containing Eimeria acervulina, E. maxima, E. mivati, and E. tenella was administered at the hatchery
Summary
Coccidiosis is a parasitic disease responsible for great economic loss in the poultry industry due to reduced broiler performance and higher costs of therapeutic and prophylactic intervention (Kawazoe et al, 2005). According to Long et al (1986), the vaccination principle is based on the ability to acquire immunity when birds have low parasite loads after two or three consecutive infections. To achieve a solid specific immunity depends on the recirculation of strains (Sharman et al, 2010) and vaccination of broilers is recommended up to ten days of age (Arczewska-Włosek and Świątkiewicz, 2014). Despite their short lifespan, low loads of parasites can still drastically affect broiler chicken performance because parasite multiplication causes intestinal mucosal lesions (Arczewska-Włosek and Świątkiewicz, 2014). Short broiler lifespan is not enough to compensate for weight-gain losses due to vaccination (Lehman et al, 2009) and nutritional strategies to ameliorate the effects of vaccination in intestinal mucosa should be investigated
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