Effect of Calotropis procera (madar) and amprolium supplementation on parasitological parameters of broilers during mixed Eimeria species infection

Abstract

Aim: An experiment was conducted on day old 168 broiler chicks to study the effect of 0.4% as well as 0.2% Calotropis procera (madar) leaf powder and 0.0125% amprolium supplementation on parasitological parameters of broilers during mixed Eimeria species infection. Materials and Methods: Chicks were randomly divided into seven groups (I-VII) each with two replicates of 12 chicks. On 15th day of experiment, broilers of Group II, IV, VI, and VII were infected with 50,000 sporulated oocysts of mixed Eimeria species. To evaluate the anticoccidial effect of different feed supplements percent fecal score, percent survival, percent weight gain, performance index (PI), average oocyst production, and percent reduction in oocyst production were calculated. Results: It was observed that amprolium supplementation had maximum anticoccidial effect as it gave the best efficacy in terms of all parameters, whereas supplementation of 0.4% madar leaf powder showed nonsignificant difference with amprolium for some parameters such as percent survival, percent weight gain, and PI. Conclusion: It can be concluded that madar (C. procera) leaf powder and amprolium had comparable activity against coccidiosis. Hence, madar leaf powder may be used for the prevention and control of mixed Eimeria spp. infection prevalent in field conditions.