Effect of an Alliaceae Encapsulated Extract on Growth Performance, Gut Health, and Intestinal Microbiota in Broiler Chickens Challenged with Eimeria spp.

Simple Summary: Coccidiosis is caused by an intracellular parasite that damages the intestinal integrity, negatively affecting the digestion and absorption of nutrients and consequently worsening weight gain, feed efficiency, and pigmentation of birds, even causing mortality. Therefore, it has a negative impact on the economy of the poultry industry. Currently, the disease is mainly treated by using anticoccidials drugs added to the diet. The drug resistance, as well as the residue of drugs in the meat, has prompted the development of natural alternatives to combat coccidiosis. The purpose of this research was to determine whether an Alliaceae encapsulated extract added to the broiler chickens diet decreased the number of oocysts excreted in feces and the harm caused to the intestinal mucosa, consequently improving the productive performance of broiler chickens challenged with Eimeria spp. Under our experimental conditions, both the inclusion of Alliaceae extract, as well as the use of conventional anticoccidials (nicarbazin/narasin/salinomycin), diminished the detrimental effect of Eimeria spp. Moreover, the Alliaceae extract favored the abundance of acid butyric bacteria (Ruminococcus spp. and Intestinimonas spp.) in the cecum, related to intestinal health. Based on the current findings, the Alliaceae extract could be a natural additive used to lessen the effects of coccidiosis infections. This study analyzed the effects of an Alliaceae encapsulated extract (AE-e) on daily gain (ADG), feed intake (ADFI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), oocysts per gram of feces (OPG), intestinal lesion (LS), and microbiota composition in broilers challenged with Eimeria spp. A total of 4800 one day Cobb-500 were allotted into 10 treatment groups with 12 replicates of 40 birds in a 2 x 4 + 2 factorial arrangement. The first factor was non-challenged (NC) or challenged (C), the second was four levels of AE-e added in the basal diet, 0 (AE0), 250 (AE250), 500 (AE500), and 750 mg.kg(-1) (AE750), plus two ionophore controls, non-challenged (NC-Ion) and challenged (C-Ion). No interactions were observed between factors (NC0, NC250, NC500, NC750, C0, C250, C500, and C750), while C-Ion improved FCR at 21 d. The challenge affected negatively ADG and FCR and promoted enteropathogens in cecum. AE750 improved FCR in the finisher and cumulative phases, while C-Ion had fewer total OPG than C0 and C250. Likewise, at 21d, C250, C500, and C-Ion had fewer LS than C0, while at 28 d, C750 showed lower than C-Ion. In the cecum microbiota, C500 had more Ruminococcus, Firmicutes b, and Intestinimonas than C-Ion. In summary, AE-e showed beneficial results in broilers infected with Eimeria spp.