Different combinations of peppermint, chamomile and a yeast prebiotic have different impacts on production and severity of intestinal and bursal abnormalities of broilers challenged with coccidiosis

Various mixtures of two phytogenics and a prebiotic were assessed for their impacts on performance of Ross 308 broilers experimentally challenged at 8 d-of-age with Eimeria tenella sporulated oocysts. The seven treatment groups (4 pens/treatment, 10 chicks/pen) were: Negative Control, unchallenged, un-supplemented; Positive Control, challenged (C), un-supplemented; C P + CH, challenged, supplemented (per kg diet) with 5 g peppermint (P) and 5 g chamomile (CH); C P + Y, challenged, supplemented with 5 g of P and 5 g prebiotic yeast cell wall (YCW) product; C CH + Y, challenged, supplemented with 5 g CH and 5 g YCW; C P + CH + Y, challenged, supplemented with 5 g each of P, CH and YCW; C Sal, challenged, supplemented with 60 mg salinomycin (Sal)/kg diet. At 24 and 35 d-of-age, all supplemented groups had higher weight gains (p ˂.0001) and lower feed conversion ratios (p ˂.05) to Positive Controls. At 24 d-of-age, 2 chicks/pen were killed. Groups C P + Y and C P + CH + Y had higher intestinal relative weights than other treatments (p ˂.0001). Positive Controls had significantly shorter villi, deeper crypts, lower villus height:crypt depth ratios and thicker jejunal muscle than other treatments. Lymphoid follicles of bursa of Fabricius were longer in Positive Controls than all groups except C Sal and C P + CH + Y and, except for Group C Sal, lymphoid follicle areas were larger (p ˂.05). Thus, the various dietary combinations of peppermint, chamomile and YCW had similar outcomes to that of the anticoccidial salinomycin in preventing a coccidiosis-induced decrease in performance and gut health.Highlights Phytogenic feed additives and yeast cell wall prebiotic prevented weight loss and gut pathology in coccidiosis challenged broilers. Mixtures of peppermint, chamomile and yeast cell prebiotic had similar effects to the coccidiostat salinomycin. The oral treatment mixtures are potential alternatives to pharmaceutical coccidiostats.