A Preliminary In Vitro Trial on the Efficacy of Products of Xenorhabdus and Photorhabdus Spp. on Eimeria Oocyst

2 Abstract: The increased resistance of avian coccidia to anticoccidial drugs currently used by in poultry industry has stimulated the search for new methods of its control. In the last decades plant extracts were widely used for the controlling of avian coccidiosis and improving poultry performance worldwide. Anticoccidial efficacy of symbiotic bacterial proteins of Xenorhabdus and Photorhabdus spp. has been investigated against sporulated oocysts of mixed Eimeria species under laboratory conditions. Xenorhabdus spp. revealed higher effecacy than photorhabdus sp. on Eimeria oocysts as monitored by mortality percentage. In the treated group, most oocysts exhibited some deformities such as shrinking and fracture of oocystic cell wall as well as disappear of the embryo if compared with non treated group. It could be concluded that both Xenprhabdus and Photorhabdus bacteria produced protein toxin or Lecithinases secretion from phase I of Xenorhabdus spp. may have an important role in the induced of pathogenicity of coccedial oocyst, however further investigations are still recommended.