Anticoccidial Effect of Cinnamomum verum Essential Oil and Its Impact on Hematological and Serum Biochemical Parameters in Broilers

Background: There are various synthetic anticoccidial drugs available in the market for the control and treatment of coccidiosis in broilers. However, their extensive usage has resulted in the development of drug resistance as well as the presence of drug residues in meat, thus urging scientists to find alternatives for coccidiosis control. Hence, the current research was aimed at the evaluation of the anticoccidial potential of Cinnamomum verum essential oil through the application of both the in-vitro and in-vivo methods.Methods: The bark of C. verum procured from the market was subjected to hydro-distillation procedure for extraction of the essential oil. The extracted essential oil was subjected to in-vitro evaluation in terms of percent sporulation and oocysts damage at six different concentrations (0.31, 0.625, 1.25, 2.5, 5 and 10% v/v). Similarly, for the in-vivo trial, 72 broiler chicks were randomly divided into six equal groups (A, B, C, D, E and F). The first five groups were infected with oocysts of mixed Eimeria species while the sixth group was kept as non-infected. When the chicks were 14 days old, the infected groups were orally given 55000 oocysts per bird. On the same day 14, the groups A, B and C were given C. verum essential oil at concentrations of 1, 2 and 3% respectively in feed whereas groups D, E and F served as positive control (Toltrazuril (R) treated), negative control and the normal control respectively.Result: The results revealed C. verum oil to have an effect on the percent sporulation and oocysts damage. The oil also improved the FCR, lesion score, oocysts score, fecal score and serum biochemical parameters in the treated broilers. However, it had no significant positive effect on the hematological parameters like Hb, PCV and blood cells count, and the weight of internal organs in broilers. For most of the parameters, C. verum essential oil showed a dose-dependent effect.Conclusion: In nutshell, C. verum essential oil possesses significant anticoccidial potential as demonstrated by the results of both the in-vitro and the in-vivo experiments. However, further studies are required for its validation and commercialization in the poultry sector.