The effects of different doses of curcumin compound on growth performance, antioxidant status, and gut health of broiler chickens challenged with Eimeria species

Abstract Supplementation of broiler diets with feed additives such as chemotherapeutic drugs and antibiotics has side-effects, meat residues and antibiotics resistance complications. Plant-derived natural compounds could be safe and easy substitutes for chemical additives. One of the natural compounds is curcumin, the extract from herbal plant Curcuma longa, known for its antioxidant and anti-microbial properties which may be effective in reducing coccidia infection in poultry. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of curcumin on Eimeria challenged (C) and nonchallenged (NC) Cobb 500 broilers. A total of 360, 12 d old male chicks were housed in 36 cages in a completely randomized design with six replicates per treatment of 10 birds each cage. The six corn-soybean meal based treatment diets were fed from d 12 to 20 to C and NC birds in three by two factorial arrangement: nonchallenged control (NCC), NC + 100 mg/kg curcumin, NC + 200 mg/kg curcumin, challenged control (CC), C + 100 mg/kg curcumin, and C + 200 mg/kg curcumin. Broilers in C groups were inoculated orally with 50,000 oocysts of Eimeria maxima, 50,000 of E. tenella and 250,000 oocysts of E. acervulina on d 14. The intestinal permeability (d 19), growth performance parameters, and intestinal lesion scoring were measured and recorded on d 20. The means were subjected to two-way ANOVA, and main factors effect and their interactions were considered. The growth performance and permeability were higher (P