Tackling experimental colisepticaemia in broiler chickens using phytobiotic essential oils and antibiotic alone or in combination

This study was designed to compare the efficacy of a phytobiotic containing a mixture of essential oils of Oreganum aetheroleum and an antibiotic containing ciprofloxacin as an active principle for the treatment of experimental Escherichia coli (E. coli) infection in broiler chickens. Two-hundred-day-old broiler chickens were divided into 5 equal groups. The 1st group was neither challenged nor treated, but groups 2, 3, 4 and 5 were challenged with E. coli. The 2nd group was challenged with E. coli only, while the 3rd, 4th and 5th group were treated with phytobiotic, ciprofloxacin and phytobiotic and ciprofloxacin combinations, respectively. Resultsconfirmed significant (P