Comparison between anticoccidial effect of granulated Artemisia siberi extract and pure Artemisinin in affected broilers

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Increasing resistance against conventional anticoccidial drugs and the consequence of their residues has paid the attention toward more effective and safe compounds. Artemisia plant is a potential candidate that its anticoccidial effect has been previously discussed. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to produce a granule from the extract of Artemisia siberi and evaluate its anticcocidial effects compared to pure Atremisinin. Methods: Artemisinin was extracted from Artemisia by petroleum ether and then formulated into a wet granule. Experimental coccidiosis was induced in chicks (n=75) by oral administration of 250000 oocysts/chick. chicks were divided into 5 groups of three replicates each (n=15) and one uninfected group (n=15). The infected chicks were treated by oral administration (1mg/kg) of pure artemisinin and granule formulation with three different doses (1, 2.5 and 5mg/kg artemisinin) as feed additive. The treatment was conducted for 5 successive days towever. The fifth infected group and uninfected group did not receive any medication. At the end of treatment, fecal samples of each group were collected for 5 days and the OPG (oocyst per gram) was determined as anticoccidial index. RESULTS: The granule formulation of Artemisia and pure artemisinin significantly (p<0.001) decreased the OPG values in treated groups (30% in treated groups Vs 8% in control). However, there wasn't significant difference between granule formulation and pure artemisinin on OPG reduction (30.39% and 30.35%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that the Artemisia siberi granulated extract can be considered as a new effective and safe anticoccidial drug.

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