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Poultry coccidiosis is a catastrophic parasitic disease and the industry is currently seeking alternative compounds to replace conventional antibiotics. Accordingly, the current study determined the effect of dietary violacein supplementation on growth performance and anticoccidial indices of Eimeria-infected broiler chickens. A total of 336-day-old “Ross 308” broiler chicks were allotted to 6 treatments: that is, positive control (PC), negative control (NC), 1 treatment with salinomycin (6 ppm), and 3 treatments with different violacein concentrations (10, 15, 20 ppm). Experimental coccidiosis was induced in all chickens (except NC) by inoculating 3.2 × 105sporulated oocysts. The treatment with 15 ppm violacein (VIO 15) significantly improved chicken growth performance compared to PC. Furthermore, significant reductions in lesion score, oocyst per gram of feces (OPG), and oocysts index (OI) were observed in the VIO 15 and the salinomycin treatments compared to other treatments. Violacein was reported as ‘moderately effective’ on Eimeriaspp. based on the “anticoccidial index (ACI),” whereas “reduction in lesion score (RLS)” and “percentage anticoccidial activity (POAA)” indices designated its 15 ppm treatment as “highly sensitive” on them. Additionally, VIO 15 downregulated “interleukin-8 (IL-8)” and “interleukin-6 (IL-6)” compared to PC, in both spleen and cecal tonsils. Besides, expression levels of “chemokine C–C motif ligand 2 (CCLi-2),” were reduced in cecal tonsils of VIO 15 broiler chickens compared to PC. Conclusively, dietary violacein supplementation suppressed the deleterious effects of coccidial infection in broiler chickens with improved growth, and its 15 ppm level is recommended for use.

The present study investigated the effects of supplementing a low protein (LP) diet supplemented with key essential amino acids (AA) to broilers on growth performance, intestinal tract function, blood metabolites, and nitrogen excretion when the animals were maintained under various sanitary conditions for 35 D after hatching. Three hundred eighty-four one-day-old male broilers (Ross 308) were randomly allotted to groups that received one of 6 dietary treatments in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement (i.e., 2 environmental conditions and 3 dietary treatments) to give 8 replicates per treatment. Broilers were challenged with 2 environmental conditions (sanitary vs. poor sanitary). The dietary treatments were (1) high protein (HP) diet, (2) LP diet, and (3) LP diet with synthetic key essential AA (LPA): the LP diet was supplemented with synthetic AA up to the required levels for broilers. On day 14, birds consumed the LP diet impaired growth performance compared with those fed the HP diet, while the average daily weight gain-to-feed conversion ratio of birds fed the LPA diet improved to the level of birds fed the HP diet under poor sanitary conditions (P< 0.05). Broilers raised under poor sanitary conditions and fed the LP diet displayed higher (P< 0.05) zonula occludens (ZO-1) expression on day 14 than broilers fed either the HP or LPA diet. Under sanitary conditions, birds fed HP and LPA diets showed higher villus height and crypt depth compared with those of broilers fed the LP diet on day 35. Moreover, broilers raised in the poor sanitary environment had higher (P< 0.05) serum endotoxins than those raised in the sanitary environment. Broilers fed the LPA diet showed reduced (P< 0.05) nitrogen excretion on days 14 and 35 compared with those fed the LP and HP diets independent of the environment. In conclusion, the LPA diet did not impair growth performance under poor sanitary conditions for 14 D after hatch while resulting in lower nitrogen excretion in any environment conditions throughout the experiment.

The digestibility of crude protein (CP) and amino acids (AA) in feedstuffs including corn, soybean meal (SBM), corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) was investigated in White Pekin ducks. The test ingredients were the sole source of AA and CP. A nitrogen-free diet was also formulated for determining endogenous losses of AA and nitrogen. Birds were fed a standard starter diet for the first 15 days post-hatch. On day 16, ninety-six ducklings (860 ± 50g BW) were selected and allocated into one of four dietary treatments containing the test ingredients with six replicates per treatment in a randomized complete block design. All the crumbled assay diets were offered ad-libitum for 5 days and contained chromic oxide as an indigestible marker at 0.05%. On day 21, ducks were euthanized to collect the ileal digesta for digestibility analysis. Basal endogenous losses were abundant in glutamine, aspartic acid, leucine, proline, and serine, consecutively. For apparent ileal digestibility (AID), lysine and methionine were the highest (P< 0.05) in SBM, followed by corn and DDGS. For threonine, the highest values (P< 0.05) were similarly noted for SBM, followed by DDGS and corn; the values were 80.44, 69.88, and 64.89%, consecutively. Considering standardized ileal digestibility (SID), higher values (P< 0.05) for SBM were similarly noted for all the amino acids including lysine, methionine, and threonine; the values were 89.40, 93.58, and 86.50%, respectively. Conclusively, improved AA and CP digestibility was noted with SBM. Dietary protein source affected the extent of digestibility at the distal ileum; and the utilization of digestible amino acid coefficients during ducks’ feed formulation is emphasized.