Coccidiosis Maxima: a moving target?

Poultry farmers are well accustomed to the challenges of coccidiosis in its various forms. Uncontrolled, it can wreak havoc on the production cycle. Birds will suffer from diarrhoea and dehydration, and damage to the intestinal lining will lead to poor nutrient absorption, reduced feed efficiency and slower growth rates. Wet litter from loose droppings causes secondary conditions that also affect the bottom line. The nature of the Eimeria parasite in its various forms can make diagnosis and control quite challenging, but it is possible to identify and pre-empt periods of peak infection within the cycle.

However, it’s important to remain vigilant for changes in these cycles, and having a good understanding of how the parasite works helps do this. Recently our technical team has noticed a change in how E. maxima is affecting some farms, and it's a change that could have a significant effect on productivity.

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Eimeria: a challenging parasite

Each form of coccidiosis is caused by a different species of Eimeria parasite. Each Eimeria species varies in terms of its preferred site of infection within the intestinal tract, giving rise to different symptoms within the bird. To complicate matters, the duration of the reproductive cycle in each species also differs. In the shed, this means that attacks are staggered, often overlapping, with varying symptoms. The infection is cyclical, intensifying with every round until the bird develops immunity. The third round is normally the time of peak challenge, before the bird has developed this immunity. By identifying times of peak challenge, it's possible to pre-empt them with targeted nutrition that can help the bird through these periods.

How nutrition can help birds cope with coccidiosis challenges

Once the timing of peak challenge has been identified, targeted nutritional supplements can be used just before these periods to boost gut health, improve immune response and aid recovery. For example, the peak challenge for E. maxima has typically been around 24-25 days. Administering a nutritional supplement such as Herbacrol™ around 18-21 days can help to prepare the bird for the challenge ahead.

Nutritional supplements can be incredibly effective in combatting coccidiosis - they work by providing powerful phytogenic ingredients before the bird meets the period of peak challenge.They help prepare the bird to withstand the worst of the infection, and enable it to continue to take on feed, absorb nutrients and gain weight.

Identifying and responding to changes

However, in recent farm visits, our team has noticed a shift in the timing of E. maxima infections, with the peak challenge occurring later in the growth cycle, at around 32-33 days, as opposed to 24-25 days. This means that E. maxima is reaching its peak cycle in the shed during the last week of growth, when birds should really be making their maximum weight gain. Unchecked, this could have a very significant effect on production targets. Consequently, a later treatment of Tricox for severe cases, or Herbacrol for milder cases, is advisable to help birds through this later challenge.

Curiously, this shift only seems to have occurred in E. maxima so far. This is a very new observation made by our team on the ground and it may well evolve further in time. It's possible that this development could be due to lower stocking densities and increased use of biomass heating. This may be impacting moisture levels in litter and affecting the parasite's life cycle (for more information on the life cycle read our whitepaper). At this stage, we can’t be sure, but we are keeping a close eye on developments and working with farms to ensure that this change does not impair their productivity.

What is clear, is that managing coccidiosis requires vigilance, and establishing an effective treatment protocol requires a good working understanding of the life cycle of the parasite itself. If you're experiencing cocci challenges, or if you're looking to tweak your treatments, contact one of our experts today.