No abstract

Coccidiosis is the main parasitic disease resulting from the intracellular protozoan that targets each different part of the intestinal tract leading to destroy in poultry. For this reason, coccidiosis induces an enormous economic loss in the poultry industry. Eimeria life cycle is complicated and comprised of exogenous and endogenous stages inducing an inflammatory response which results in enteric damage associated with diarrheal hemorrhage, disorder digestion of feed and nutrient absorption, dehydration, blood loss, mortality. Hence, it is very important to understand the information of Eimeria parasites for elimination and treatment. This disease has been controlled by various anticoccidial drugs and vaccines as the most common management practices. However, not only the occurrence of drug resistance due to anticoccidial drugs but lack of a guarantee of safety with vaccine use, has led to the development of alternative strategies to control coccidiosis. For these reasons, phytogenic compounds are emerging for the control and prevention of poultry coccidiosis to alternate previous methods. The main aim of this review is to provide an overview of coccidiosis including etiology, morphology, life cycle, pathogenicity, clinical sign, diagnosis, control and prevention.

Surface coatings of eggs are used to extend the shelf life and minimize economic loss. Edible mineral oil is used as a coating material but several problems associated with it and plant waxes are tested as alternatives. "Boomi" (Litsea glutinosa) and "dawul kurundu" (Neolitsea cassia) is found throughout Sri Lanka and barks of these trees are widely used in indigenous medicine due to their antibacterial properties. But, information on these waxes on egg quality attributes does not exist. Objective of this research was to check the effect of "boomi" and "dawul kurundu" waxes as an external coating material on shelf life and internal quality of chicken eggs stored under room temperature. Total of 372 freshly laid brown, medium sized (55-60 g), clean eggs were purchased from a layer farm. Eggs were individually weighed and coated with "boomi" wax (1.0:6.5), "dawul kurundu" wax (01:10) and mineral oil while non coated eggs were used as negative control. Weight loss, change in air sac volume, Haugh unit (HU), yolk color, albumen and yolk pH, yolk index and FTIR analysis were determined at weekly basis for 6 weeks. Albumen and yolk pH increased with storage. But it is significantly lower in mineral coated eggs (p < 0.05). Whereas HU and yolk index decreased during storage in wax coated and non-coated eggs (p < 0.05). Grades of non-coated, "boomi" wax coated and "dawul kurundu" wax coated eggs were changed from AA to B within 4 weeks whereas in mineral oil coated eggs (MO) remain in AA. Weight loss of wax coated eggs were significantly higher compared to MOs (p < 0.05). FTIR analysis revels that the no chemical changes occur due to the wax. Increase of air sac was higher in noncoated eggs (5.39 ± 0.3 mm) after 42 days compared to "boomi" wax (4.59 ± 0.2 mm), "dawul kurundu" wax (3.27 ± 0.3 mm) and mineral oil (1.19 ± 0.3 mm) coated eggs. Thus, study showed that these two plant waxes had better qualities than non-coated eggs but less than the MOs.

Coccidiosis is a major parasitic disease in the poultry industry, with great economic implications worldwide. It is a ubiquitous protozoan infection caused by several species of the genus Eimeria (host-specific) that colonize and reproduce in the intestine of birds, ultimately altering the health and performance of the flock. At present, several methods are used to diagnose coccidiosis in poultry, including field and laboratory techniques (intestinal lesion scoring, oocyst counting in feces, and biochemical and molecular diagnosis). Traditionally, diagnosed flocks have been treated either by vaccination to improve the active immunity of the birds against coccidiosis or supplementation of prophylactic anticoccidials to ameliorate the deleterious effects of coccidiosis. However, these methods has certain drawbacks such as vaccine-induced coccidiosis, drug resistance, and residual drug accumulation in the host. Consequently, alternative safe anti-coccidial agents, including the use of phytogenic compounds, have been explored for preventing coccidiosis. Here, we provide a simple overview of the literature on poultry coccidiosis by focusing on the etiology, diagnostic practices, and preventive measures.