Role of Dietary Supplementation with Plant Origin Carotenoids (Curcumin and Lutein) for the Control of Eimeria-Challenged Broiler Chickens

The influence of anti-coccidial naturally occurring plant origin carotenoids (curcumin and lutein) in Eimeria-challenged broiler chicks were tested. A total of 200, day-old commercial Arbor Acres chicks were reared for 42 days. The chicks were weighed individually arid randomly assigned into equally 4 treatment groups having S replicates. Chicks of control group T-0 were raised on a basal diet with no supplement. The chicks of group T-1, T-2 and T-3 were supplemented with curcumin 300 mg/kg, lutein 300 mg/kg, and curcumin plus lutein 150 mg each with per kg of feed, respectively. On day 21 all the chicks were challenged with Eimeria maxima. The findings of this study revealed that among all the groups feed intake, body weight gain and feed efficiency remained statistically unchanged (P>0.05). A significantly higher (P<0.05) liver and spleen weights were observed in the T-0 group as compared to the birds fed lutein supplemented diets whilst the bursa and thymus remained statistically alike and the same trend was observed for bloody diarrhea, intestinal lesion scores except for the oocyte count which was significantly lower in the T-3 group. On day 20, T-3 dietary groups exhibited numerically increased antibody titers against Newcastle disease virus (NDV) and Avian influenza virus (AIV), additionally T-3 also exhibited the same trend on day 30. The serum malondialdehyde (MDA) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels were at a lower rate in the T-3 group while the liver MDA was statistically lower in the T-1 (P<0.05) group as compared to other groups. The alanine aminotransferase (ALT) remained unchanged within the groups. Compared to T-0 (control), all the carotenoid supplemented groups exhibited increased (P>0.05) shank color and skin b* value (yellowness). Our conclusion showed that application of curcumin single or in combination with lutein may promote skin pigmentation, lowered liver injury, and exhibit a better anti-coccidial impact.