Effects of essential oils and betaine on male broilers raised on used litter seeded with coccidia oocysts

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of essential oils (garlic and cinnamon extracts) and betaine on growth performance and oocyst shedding of 42-day-old male broilers raised on used litter seeded with coccidia oocysts. Treatments included: negative control (NC) a nonsupplemented diet with broilers raised on fresh shavings, positive control (PC) the same nonsupplemented diet with broilers raised on used litter, the same diet formulation with 50 ppm of active salinomycin sodium (Bio-Cox 60;PC+Sal) raised on used litter, or the same diet formulation with 500 ppm of essential oils and 250 ppm of betaine (PC+EO+B) raised on used litter. The PC worsened performance (BW gain; BWG or mortality corrected FCR; FCRm) in comparison to NC and PC+Sal over 0 to 16 and 0 to 29 d (P ≤ 0.05) and 0 to 42 d (P ≤ 0.10). The PC+EO+B increased BWG relative to PC over 0 to 16 and 0 to 29 d (P ≤ 0.05) and from 0 to 42 d (P = 0.07). The PC+EO+B improved FCRm in comparison to PC over 0 to 16 and 0 to 42 d (P ≤ 0.05). The PC+EO+B was similar to NC and PC+Sal for BWG and FCRm across all time periods (P > 0.05). Oocyst counts were lowest in NC, highest in PC, and intermediate in PC+Sal and PC+EO+B for all periods. In conclusion, the reduced performance and increased oocyst shedding in the PC validate a mild coccidiosis infection and the combination of essential oils and betaine were able to ameliorate the negative effects.