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ARS Home Plains Area College Station, Texas Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center Food and Feed Safety Research Research





- Swaggerty, Christina - Christi
- Food Safety, (Animal and Plant Products) (108)

Research Project: **Location:
                            Food and Feed Safety Research** Project Number: 3091-32000-037-071-T
                        
                        Project Type: Trust Fund Cooperative Agreement Start Date: Feb 1, 2024
                        
                        End Date: Jan 31, 2027 **Objective:**
                        
                        1. Evaluate the immunometabolic effects of a microencapsulated antibiotic alternative to control Clostridium perfringens colonization and subsequent pathological effects in broilers.
2. Evaluate the immunometabolic effects of a microencapsulated antibiotic alternative to control coccidiosis and prevent Clostridium perfringens overgrowth. **Approach:**
                        
                        Objective 1. At placement, day-old, straight-run, commercial broiler chicks will be randomized and assigned to a feed supplementation group which they will be fed for the duration of the study. Two doses (200-600g/MT) of a microencapsulated antibiotic alternative will be evaluated and compared to a commercially available antibiotic feed additive indicated for the prevention of Clostridium perfringens-associated clinical disease. Supplemented and non-supplemented starter diet will be fed from placement to day 21. Chicks will be administered a commercial vaccine to promote gut dysbiosis (day 10) followed by 3 consecutive challenges with a cocktail of C. perfringens strains (days 17-19). On day 21, half of the birds in each group will be weighed, bled, and humanely euthanized. At necropsy, intestinal content will be analyzed for C. perfringens enumeration, lesion scoring of intestinal segments will be recorded, and tissue samples collected and flash frozen for immunometabolic analyses and measurement of oxidative stress markers. From day 22 to day 35 birds will be fed a grower diet supplemented as per the assigned dietary treatment and monitored for signs of clinical disease and performance metrics. At day 35 the remaining birds will be bled and humanely euthanized and performance metrics recorded. 

Objective 2. At placement, day-old, straight-run, commercial broiler chicks will be randomized and assigned to a feed supplementation group which they will be fed for the duration of the study. Two doses (200-600g/MT) of a microencapsulated antibiotic alternative will be evaluated and compared to a commercially available ionophore feed additive indicated for the prevention of coccidiosis associated clinical disease. Supplemented and non-supplemented starter diet will be fed from placement to day 21. Four-day-old chicks will be administered a high dose of a commercially available Coccidiosis vaccine to promote gut dysbiosis. On day 21, half of the birds in each group will be weighed, bled, and humanely euthanized. At necropsy, the intestine will be scored for lesions and tissue samples collected and flash frozen for immunometabolic analyses and measurement of oxidative stress markers. From day 22 to day 35 birds will be fed a grower diet supplemented as per the assigned dietary treatment and monitored for signs of clinical disease and performance metrics. At day 35 the remaining birds will be bled and humanely euthanized and performance metrics recorded.


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