Tackling the future challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry - vTI

! Agriculture and Forestry Research, Special Issue No 362 (Braunschweig, 2012) ISSN 0376-0723
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the vaccine. After accessing the outdoor runs, pullets in this group were challenged like the other
groups and this can be observed in the increased oocyst accumulation after week 10 (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Oocyst accumulated counts per treatment (mean OPG for both replicates)
The infection severity in the studied farm can be observed by interpreting oocyst accumulation of
group EAv2 which represents the farmer routine. Pullets in this group were most likely infected
around week 4 leading to a high oocyst excretion at week 7. A very early infection was observed for
the second group treated after appearance of clinical symptoms (EAa1). Pullets in this group were
challenged just after allocated to the pens and a high excretion was observed at week 5. In addition,
both groups treated after the appearance of clinical symptoms (EAv2 and EAa1) were challenged
later, after accessing the outdoor runs, after week 10 (Figure 1).
In general, the mean oocyst excretion (OE) for the pullets receiving botanical treatments rose to a
maximum excretion at week 7 (early coccidia infection). Subsequently, a smaller oocyst excretion
after week 10 (late coccidia infection) was observed. During early period (from week 0 to 7), accumulated
oocysts were lower for the groups supplemented with 3% cassava leaves (p