{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T04:30:54Z","timestamp":1791952254605,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,11,13]],"date-time":"2019-11-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1573603200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Start-up Research Grant Program provided by Foshan University, Foshan city, Guangdong province for distinguished researchers, Guangdong Science and Technology","award":["Grant No:1244 0600 4560 7389XC) and School of Life Science and Engineering fund (Grant No: KLPREAD201801-02)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Grant No:1244 0600 4560 7389XC) and School of Life Science and Engineering fund (Grant No: KLPREAD201801-02)"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study was conducted to investigate the effect of prebiotic supplementation against intestinal coccidiosis in rabbits. Fifty male rabbits aged 35\u201360 days (1\u20131.5 kg) were divided into prophylactic and therapeutic experiments (five groups, 10 rabbits per group). Prophylactic experiment had prebiotic supplemented (PS-P), non-supplemented infected control (NI-P), and non-supplemented non-infected control (NN-P) groups. Ten days post-prebiotic supplementation (PPS), rabbits in groups PS-P and NI-P were infected orally with 5.0 \u00d7 104 sporulated oocysts of mixed Eimeria species. However, therapeutic experiment had prebiotic supplemented (PS-T) and untreated infected (UI-T) groups of naturally infected rabbits with Eimeria species. A significant reduction in oocyst count per gram feces (OPG) (p \u2264 0.05) was reported in the PS-P (57.33 \u00d7 103 \u00b1 2.84) and NI-P (130.83 \u00d7 103 \u00b1 43.38) groups during the experiment. Additionally, rabbits in groups (PS-P, 970.33 \u00b1 31.79 g and NI-P, 870.66 \u00b1 6.66 g) showed weight loss after infection. However, a significant (p \u2264 0.05) decrease in OPG was observed at day seven PPS in the PS-T group (4 \u00d7 103 \u00b1 0.00) when compared with the UI-T group (32 \u00d7 103 \u00b1 7.54). Furthermore, the PS-T group had a higher body weight than rabbits in the UI-T group. Histopathological findings of the intestinal tissues (duodenum, jejunum, and ileum) showed that the counts of the endogenous stages were significantly higher in the NI-P and UI-T groups than in the prebiotic-supplemented groups (PS-P and PS-T). Supplementation of the prebiotic did not have any adverse effects on biochemical parameters, such as AST, ALT, creatinine, total protein, and total cholesterol. In conclusion, prebiotic supplementation can be used to minimize the adverse effects of intestinal coccidiosis in rabbits, which in turn limits body weight loss, especially for the prophylaxis of coccidial infection.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani9110965","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,11,13]],"date-time":"2019-11-13T09:11:27Z","timestamp":1573636287000},"page":"965","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":20,"title":["Prophylactic and Therapeutic Efficacy of Prebiotic Supplementation against Intestinal Coccidiosis in Rabbits"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0389-1980","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Saeed A.","family":"El-Ashram","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science and Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan 528231, Guangdong, China"},{"name":"Faculty of Science, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr El-Sheikh 33516, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1403-2527","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shawky M.","family":"Aboelhadid","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Parasitology Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Beni Suef University, Beni-Suef 62511, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"El-Sayed M.","family":"Abdel-Kafy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza 12651, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shymaa A.","family":"Hashem","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza 12651, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lilian N.","family":"Mahrous","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Parasitology Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Beni Suef University, Beni-Suef 62511, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eman M.","family":"Farghly","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza 12651, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Usama K.","family":"Moawad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Histology and Cytology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef 62511, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8908-0750","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Asmaa A.","family":"Kamel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Parasitology Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Beni Suef University, Beni-Suef 62511, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,11,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"304","DOI":"10.1080\/09712119.2016.1174126","article-title":"Effect of probiotic supplementation on growth performance, nutrient utilization and carcass characteristics of growing Chinchilla rabbits","volume":"45","author":"Bhatt","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. 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