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Poultry Science
y Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Poultry Science Association Inc
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Abstract: |
Chronic respiratory disease (CRD)
caused by Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) leads to
impaired broiler growth performance and significant
economic losses worldwide. The utilization of essential
oils (EOs) as natural alternatives to antibiotics to control CRD outbreaks is not completely clarified yet.
Thus, we investigated the effect of a commercial EOs
mixture (toldin CRD), in comparison to tilmicosin antibiotic, on the clinical observations, growth performance,
immunity, digestive enzymes, gut barrier functions, and
bacterial loads in broilers experimentally infected with
MG. A total of 400 one-day-old broiler chicks were
assigned into four groups; negative control (NC), positive control (PC), tilmicosin, and toldin CRD treated
groups. All groups except NC were experimentally
infected with MG at 14 d of age. Our data showed that
birds treated with toldin CRD showed significant
enhancement in the body weight gain (BWG) and feed
conversion ratio (FCR) (P = 0.001 each) over the whole
experimental period. Likely, improved digestibility and
intestinal barrier functions in the toldin CRD treated
group was evidenced by the significant upregulation (P
< 0.05) of cholecystokinin (CCK), alpha 2A amylase
(AMY2A), pancreatic lipase (PNLIP), junctional
adhesion molecule-2 (JAM-2), occludin, and mucin-2
(MUC-2) genes. Moreover, toldin CRD exhibited
immunostimulant and ant-inflammatory activities via
significant downregulation (P < 0.05) of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a) and interleukin (IL)-6
genes, significant reduction of lysozyme (LYZ), myeloperoxidase (MPO), and nitric oxide (NO) levels
(P = 0.03, 0.02, and 0.001, respectively) and significant increase in the immunoglobulin G (IgG) level
(P = 0.03). Notably, immunohistochemistry and
quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction
(qPCR) results showed prominent reductions (P <
0.05) in the levels of MG antigens and MG loads in
the toldin CRD treated group, which were evidenced
by relieving the clinical picture of MG experimental
infection. In conclusion, we recommend the utilization
of toldin CRD as a potential candidate for controlling
MG infection in broiler chickens.
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