Comparative Resistance of Three Line Crosses of Broiler Chickens to Three Species of <em>Eimeria</em>

Abstract

Resistance of three line crosses of broiler chickens to challenges with three species of Eimeria (E. tenella, E. maxima and E. acervulina) as measured by body weight gain, feed efficiency, pigmentation, liveability and faecal scores were compared in this study. Mild infections of E. acervulina, E. tenella and E. maxima produced growth depression from the infection during the first week post inoculation (pi). Differences in body weight gains at 7 days pi between the infected broiler strains (A x A verses B x A and D x D versus D x D) were significant (p<0.05), whereas, differences in weight gains between infected D x D and B x A were not significant (p>0.05). The uninfected birds had significantly better liveability (p<0.05) than the infected ones, but, the difference between the uninfected and the infected (B x A) was not significant (p>0.05). Feed efficiency for the entire period, D – 2 to D+14, for the three line crosses were best in the following order: B x A, D x D and A x A. The A x A line crosses had significantly more watery and bloody faces (p<0.05) than the other line crosses.  More watery and bloody faeces were seen at 7 days pi than any other day the faces were scored. The study shows that B x A line crosses of broilers performed significantly better (p<0.05) in all categories tested than the other line crosses.