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Coccidiosis Vaccination And Nutrient Utilization In Broiler Chickens, Alyson Elaine Gautier

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Four experiments were conducted to evaluate the interrelationships among coccidiosis vaccination and nutrient utilization in floor-reared broiler chickens. Experiment 1 longitudinally compared the effects of coccidiosis vaccination and a chemical coccidiostat on broiler performance, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal morphology. Coccidiosis vaccination had no significant impact on morphology, overall body weight gain and feed intake of vaccinated birds, although vaccination impaired overall FCR. Vaccination elicited a transient reduction in digestibility of energy and nutrients, particularly for lipids, but vaccinated birds were able to recover from these reductions by 20 d. Experiment 2 assessed the impact of vaccination in digestibility of different …