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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Animal Biosciences & Biotechnology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #303651
Title: Dietary supplementation of young broiler chickens with capsicum and turmeric oleoresin increases resistance to necrotic enteris

Author
item Lee, Sung
item Lillehoj, Hyun
item JANG, SEUNG - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)
item LILLEHOJ, ERIK - University Of Maryland
item MIN, WONGI - Gyeongsang National University
item BRAVO, DAVID - Pancosma Sa

Submitted to: American Association of Avian Pathologists
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/14/2014
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The Clostridium-related poultry disease, necrotic enteritis (NE), causes substantial economic losses on a global scale. In this study, a mixture of two plant-derived phytonutrients, Capsicum oleoresin and turmeric oleoresin (XT), was evaluated for its effects on local and systemic immune responses using a co-infection model of experimental NE in commercial broilers. Chickens were fed from hatch with a diet supplemented with XT, or with a non-supplemented control diet, and either uninfected or orally challenged with virulent Eimeria maxima oocyts at 14 d and Clostridium perfringens at 18 d of age. Parameters of protective immunity were 1) body weight, 2) gut lesions, 3) serum levels of C. perfringens a-toxin and NetB toxin, 4) serum levels of antibodies to a-toxin and NetB toxin, and 5) levels of gene transcripts encoding proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines in the intestine and spleen. Infected chickens fed the XT-supplemented diet had increased body weight and reduced gut lesion scores compared with infected birds given the non-supplemented diet. The XT-fed group also displayed decreased serum a-toxin levels and reduced intestinal IL-8, LITAF, IL-17A, and IL-17F mRNA levels, while cytokine/chemokine levels in splenocytes increased in the XT-fed group, compared with animals fed the control diet. In conclusion, this study documents the molecular and cellular immune changes following dietary supplementation with extracts of Capsicum and turmeric that may be relevant to protective immunity against avian NE.