Effects of gallic acid and essential oil supplementation on performance, health and cecal bacterial count in broilers challenged with coccidiosis

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different phytogenic feed additives (PFA) on growth performance, immune organ weight, lesion score, footpad dermatitis, oocyst shedding counts, intestinal morphology, blood profile and cecal bacterial counts in broiler chickens challenged with coccidiosis. 200 one-day-old Arbor Acres broiler chickens (BW 37.65 ± 0.82 g) were allocated in a randomized complete block design to 4 treatments: (1) NC: no-challenge / no-supplementation; (2) PC; Coccidiosis-challenge / no-supplementation; (3) GA: Coccidiosis-challenge / gallic acid (GA) at 100 mg/kg; (4) PFA: Coccidiosis-challenge / mixture of PFA including carvacrol, thymol and GA at 100 mg/kg. Broilers were fed for 32 days. Coccidiosis challenge decreased (<italic>p</italic> < 0.05) body weight (BW), body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI), villus height to crypt depth (VH:CD) and <italic>Lactobacillus</italic> count, while increased (<italic>p</italic> < 0.05) feed conversion ratio (FCR), FCR at 1.5 kg, incidence of high lesion score and average lesion score of upper, middle, ceca and footpad, oocyst shedding count, heterophil count in serum and <italic>Escherichia coli</italic> count. On the other hand, anticoccidial feed additives (GA and PFA) mitigated (<italic>p</italic> < 0.05) impaired growth performance and intestinal morphology by coccidiosis challenge. Moreover, they alleviated (<italic>p</italic> < 0.05) high lesion score, oocyst shedding count and harmful bacteria count induced by coccidiosis challenge. Therefore, GA and mixture of PFA including carvacrol, thymol and GA can be considered as an effective alternative for anticoccidial treatment in broilers.