Evaluation of nitro compounds as feed additives in diets of Eimeria-challenged broilers in vitro and in vivo

Coccidiosis is a disease caused by Eimeria spp., resulting in approximately 3 billion US dollar loss in the poultry industry annually. The present study evaluated the effects of potential feed additives, 2-Nitro-1-propanol (NP) and nitroethanol (NE), on control of coccidiosis. An in vitro experiment indicated that both NP and NE inhibited the development of sporozoites in Madin-Darby bovine kidney cells (MDBK). The in vivo study was further conducted to evaluate the effects of NP and NE on growth performance, nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy (AMEn), and intestinal lesion scores of broilers challenged with Eimeria spps. Six treatments were tested in the study, including the nonchallenged control, challenged control, 100 ppm NP, 200 ppm NP, 100 ppm NE, and 200 ppm NE. Broilers were fed the treatment diets from day 12 until the end of the trial. All birds except the unchallenged control were challenged with Eimeria maxima, Eimeria tenella, and Eimeria acervulina on day 14. The growth performance was calculated, and the intestinal lesion was scored on day 20. The results showed that Eimeria challenge significantly reduced growth performance, increased intestinal lesion scores, and decreased AMEn compared with the nonchallenged control group. Birds fed with 200 ppm of NP had reduced growth performance compared with the nonchallenged control and challenged control. However, the supplementation of NP significantly improved AMEn and reduced cecal damage. Overall, NP and NE reduced sporozoites numbers in the MDBK cells. NP improved dietary digestibility of energy and reduces lesion scores in the ceca but could not maintain growth performance in broiler chickens infected with Eimeria spp.