EFFICIENCY OF FEED ADDITIVE EIMERIX ® FOR NATURAL INFECTION OF BROILER CHICKENS WITH EIMERIA SPP.

The article presents the results of the study of the effectiveness of the feed additive EIMERIX® (powder for oral use, granulated), produced by JSC Biopharm (Ukraine), the active pharmaceutical ingredient of which is the polyester ionophore antibiotic monensin, when used for broiler chickens naturally infected with coccidia of the genus Eimeria. The study was conducted on 17-day-old broiler chickens with clinical signs of coccidiosis. E. tenella and E. maxima were identified from faeces samples of sick broiler chickens. For three weeks (21 days), the sick bird the feed supplement EIMERIX® was added in feed at a dose of 0.5 g per 1 kg of feed, or 100 mg of sodium monensin per 1 kg of feed (experimental group). The control group consisted of broiler chickens suffering from coccidiosis, which were not given the supplement or any other anticoccidial drugs. The main criteria for demonstrating the estimation of the feed additive EIMERIX® were: the number of Eimeria oocysts in feces; mortality and morbidity of poultry associated with coccidiosis. Additional indicators of the effectiveness of the feed additive were: average live weight; average daily increase in live weight of poultry; average daily feed consumption, the ratio of the amount of feed consumed to growth; data of bird health monitoring during the experiment. On the 21st day of the experiment, the excretion of Eimeria oocysts in the feces of broiler chickens with coccidiosis practically stopped (<100 oocysts/g of feces), what was confirmed by the absence of clinical signs of coccidiosis in the birds. Addition of EIMERIX® additive in feed contributed for the reduction of morbidity and mortality among sick birds. More live weight gains and lower feed conversion ratios were observed in Eimeria disease birds treated with a feed additive versus untreated birds. The results of the study showed that the use of EIMERIX® feed additive for broiler chickens with coccidiosis, in the recommended by the manufacturer dosage, causes a decrease of the eimeria infection degree of the bird, reduces its morbidity and mortality, and also contributes to an increase of average daily gains and improvement of feed conversion.