Effect of Chinese medicine combined with composite probiotics on structure of cecal microbiota in chickens infected with coccidiosis

MA Guangqiang; JIANG Shanyi; WANG Kaigong

doi:10.13557/j.cnki.issn1002-2813.2025.20.011

Abstract：The experiment aimed to investigate the effects of Chinese medicine combined with compound probiotics on the cecal microbiota structure of chicks infected with coccidiosis.A total of 180 healthy one-day-old chicks were raised until 12 days of age and confirmed free of coccidial infection before being randomly divided into six groups,with three replicates per group and 10 chicks per replicate.The blank control group and the infected group were given 200 μL of normal saline orally before each feeding.The Chinese medicine group was fed with the basic diet mixed with 2％compound Chinese medicine powder(with the proportions of Dichroa febrifuga,Pulsatilla chinensis,Sanguisorba officinalis,and Coptis chinensis being 4∶2∶1∶1).The probiotic group was given 200 μL per chick of compound probiotics(with the proportions of Lactobacillus plantarum,Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae being 1∶1∶1,1 × 108 CFU/200 μL).The Chinese medicine+probiotic group was fed with the basic diet mixed with 2％compound Chinese medicine powder and then given 200 μL of compound probiotics.The monensin group was given 100 mg/kg of monensin in the basic diet.On the 14th day of the experiment,except for the blank control group,all other groups were orally administered with 1 × 105 sporulated Eimeria tenella oocysts.At the end of the experiment,cecal contents were collected,and microbial community structure was analyzed using the Illumina Miseq platform.The test period was 22 days.The results showed that the raw read counts ranged from 78 180 to 81 909 across all groups.Non-clustered amplicon sequence variant(ASV)analysis revealed that the infected group and probiotic group had fewer microbial species,while the Chinese medicine+probiotic group exhibited the highest microbial richness.The Alpha diversity index of the infected group and probiotic group was extremely lower than that of the blank control group(P＜0.01).The infected group and probiotic group showed higher sample dispersion.At the phylum level,the relative abundance of Firmicutes decreased in all experimental groups,while the relative abundances of Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria increased.At the genus level,the relative abundances of Clostridia_vadinBB60_group and Clostridia_UCG-014 decreased in the infected group,the relative abundance of Alistipes increased in all experimental groups,and the relative abundance of Escherichia-Shigella decreased in the Chinese medicine+probiotic group.The study indicates that coccidial infection in chicks leads to dysbiosis of the cecal microbiota,reduced species diversity,decreased abundance of beneficial bacteria,and proliferation of harmful bacteria.The combined use of Chinese medicine and composite probiotics can improve microbial richness and diversity,promote the colonization of beneficial bacteria,and and inhibit the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria,with effects superior to those of individual interventions.