Bioefficacy of Dietary Inclusion of Nannochloropsis oculata on Eimeria spp. Challenged Chicks : Clinical Approaches, Meat Quality, and Molecular Docking.

Abstract Anticoccidial drugs have been used to treat avian coccidiosis for almost a century, but drug resistance, bird harm, and food residues have produced human health issues. Therefore, Nannochloropsis oculata was studied as a potential chemotherapeutic alternative for broilers affected with coccidiosis. A total of 150 one-day-old male Cobb broiler chicks were treated as follows: G1-Ng: fed a basal diet; G2-Ps: challenged with Eimeria spp. oocysts and fed basal diet; G3-Clo: challenged and fed basal diet with clopidol; G4-NOa: challenged and fed 0.1% N. oculata in diet, and G5-NOb challenged and fed 0.2% N. oculata . Compared to G2-Ps, N. oculata in the diet significantly ( p  < 0.05) decreased dropping scores, lesion scores, and oocyst shedding in challenged chicks. Without affecting breast meat color metrics, N. oculata increased total n-3 PUFA, WHC, drip loss, cooking loss, and thawing loss in challenged birds. At 28 days of age, birds received 0.2% N. oculata had significantly ( p <  0.05) higher serum levels of MDA, T-SOD, HDL, and LDL cholesterol compared to G2-Ps. Serum AST, ALT, and urea levels were all decreased when N. oculata (0.2%) was used as opposed to G2-Ps. Histopathological alterations and the number of developmental and degenerative stages of Eimeria spp. in the intestinal epithelium were dramatically reduced by 0.2% N. oculata compared to G2-Ps. Molecular docking revealed a higher binding affinity of N. oculata for E. tenella aldolase, EtAMA1, and EtMIC3, which hindered glucose metabolism, host cell adhesion, and invasion of Eimeria . Finally, N. oculata (0.2%) can be used in broiler diets to mitigate the deleterious effects of coccidiosis.