Protective effects of neem (Azadirachta indica) leaf powder on experimentally induced colibacillosis in broilers Patil V.B.4, Khan M.A.4,*, Chavhan S.G.4, Gaikwad N.Z.1,4, Bhonsle A.V.2,4, Patil M.K.3,4 4Department of Pathology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Udgir, Maharashtra-413517, India 1Biochemistry, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Udgir, Maharashtra-413517, India 2Microbiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Udgir, Maharashtra-413517, India 3Pharmacology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Udgir, Maharashtra-413517, India *Corresponding author: e-mail: drminhajali@rediffmail.com
Abstract The present study was conducted to evaluate the preventive effect of neem (Azadirachta indica) leaf powder (NLP) in experimentally induced colibacillosis in broilers. Birds from T1 group {E. coli @ 0.3 ml (1 × 109 CFU/ml), single dose orally at the age of 7th day} showed clinical signs mainly such as respiratory distress, whitish pasty watery diarrhoea and high mortality (24%). The T1 group birds showed gross lesions mainly consisting marked thick yellowish fibrinous deposits on pericardium or epicardium and hepatic capsule. Histo- pathological lesions observed in T1 group were fibrino-heterophilic hepatic serositis and epicarditis or pericarditis. The capsular surface of affected liver and epicardial or pericardial surface of affected hearts were covered with thick layer of fibrin containing predominantly heterophils and numerous bacterial colonies. The marked hepatocellular degeneration and disruption of cardiomyocytes was also evident. The birds from T2 group (E. coli + Neem Leaf Powder @ 2 gm per kg of feed) showed comparatively lesser severity of clinical signs, gross or histopathological lesions and mortality (12%) than T1 group. In conclusion, the oral supplementation of neem leaf powder @2 gm per kg of feed although could not completely prevent the birds from E. coli infection, it induced moderate improvement in colibacillosis affected birds in terms of comparatively lesser severity of clinical signs, gross or histopathological lesions and reduction in mortality. Top Keywords Broilers, Colibacillosis, Neem leaf powder. Top |