Anticoccidial in vitro and in vivo effect of Pleurotus djamor against Eimeria spp. of the rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculi.

Gastrointestinal parasites in rabbits affect reproduction and nutritional condition as well as meat and sub-products loss. Coccidiosis in rabbits causes diarrhea, intestinal damage and liver diseases that can be controlled with beneficial microbiota. Our study focuses on the coccidicidal activity of the nutraceutical mushroom Pleurotus djamor this has been widely referred to as containing linoleic acid. The mycelium aqueous extract of P. djamor was used against Eimeria spp of rabbit, in vitro and in vivo. The aqueous extract was obtained from supernatant of mycelium, with an in vitro dose range of 5-100 µg/ml of protein against oocysts of Eimeria spp of rabbits, as a positive control toltrazuril at 5-1250 µg/ml, the maximum anticoccidial effect for P. djamor at 48 h was 30.3 ± 4.4% of viable oocysts with 10 µg/ml of protein, with the same concentration with toltrazuril was 23.1 ± 2.7% vs. 93 ± 0.9% of viable oocysts in the control. In vivo activity was evaluated for seven days with an average initial pre-treatment load average of 1.7 × 104Eimeria spp oocysts per gram of feces, the control group G1 was administered saline solution, G2 are administered a single dose of 80 µg/kg of P. djamor protein, and G3 with 5 mg/kg toltrazuril, at day 5 post treatment the infection presented a significant decrease (p < 0.01) for G2 with 74.4% reduction from a control parasite load (4.3 ×104 oocysts), while G3 decreased 71.3%. On day 7 post treatment, necropsies indicated less intestinal damage in G2 (22.1%) and G3 (23%) compared with G1. The in vitro coccidicidal effect and the decrease in parasite load on days 3, 4 and 5 post treatment suggest the therapeutic potential of P. djamor against coccidiosis in rabbits.