Abstract:
Avian coccidiosis has generally been controlled by using anticoccidial drugs as feed additives.
Emergence of resistant Eimeria strains, however,has been reported due to frequent use of
anticoccidial drugs. Alternatives to anticoccidial drugs have, therefore, been focus of the
researchers to control this disease. Use of botanicals has been reported as a promising
alternative in this regard. Therfore this experiment was, conducted using chickens to evaluate
the anticoccidial and immunomodulatory activity of aqueous methanolic extracts (100, 200
and 300 mg/kg b.wt.) of three plants Beta vulgaris (roots),Pinus radiata (bark) and Carica
papaya (seeds) using standard procedures. Though, not at par with reference drug (Baycox), all
the plant materials demonstrated good anticoccidial activity based on selected criteria, i.e., chick
survival percentage, , fecal and oocyst scores, oocysts per gram of feces, feed conversion ratio,
lesion scores. Likewise, all the plant materials exhibited immunomodulatory activity against avian
coccidia in chickens based on the given criteria, i.e., cell mediated (Phytohemagglutinin-P,
Concanavalin-A, Dinitrochlorobenzene and Carbon clearance assay) and humoral immunity
(hemagglutination test). Graded dose response was recorded among all plant materials. Results
of organ weight, blood and serum profile of infected chicks revealed no adverse effects of aqueous
methanolic extracts of plant materials on the experimental chickens. On the whole, Carica papaya
(seeds) ranked first followed by Pinus radiata (bark) and Beta vulgaris (roots) regarding their
anticoccidial and immunomodulatory effects. Studies on larger scale using aqueous methanolic
extracts following standard pharmacological procedures of the investigated plants are
suggested.
