Comparative efficacy of difloxacin and nano-emulsion difloxacin as antibacterial agents against Salmonella Enterica Serovar Enteritidis in chickens

Abstract

Background: Avian salmonellosis is a group of diseases caused by bacteria from the genus Salmonella with a negative impact on poultry particularly chickens. Additionally, salmonellosis is a global food-borne infection. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Nano-Emulsion Difloxacin (NED) and commercial difloxacin (CD) water supplement on broiler's growth, feed intake, and body weight, weigh gain, growth rate, FCR, and mortality rate. The antibiotic sensitivity was determined both in-vivo and in-vitro for NED against Salmonella Enterica serovar Enteritidis in chickens. Methods: 1500 one-day of age chicks were grouped to 5 groups as follows: group 1 (G1) control negative group, G2 control positive group (infected and not treated), G3 (infected and treated with CD, and G4 and G5 (infected and treated with NED at different doses). Samples, including intestine, liver, and spleen were collected. Agar well diffusion test and minimum inhibitory concentrations were adopted. Histopathological lesions on different tissues were studied. During 35 days of the experiment, the feed intake, growth rate, growth gain, FCR, and mortality rate were recorded daily. In addition, a variety of analytical techniques including transmission electron microscopic analysis, dynamic light scattering, UV-visible spectroscopy and zeta-potential analysis were applied to characterize NED. Results: Agar well diffusion test indicated that NED was in-vitro effective against Salmonella Enteritidis isolates than CD. The minimum inhibitory concentration was recorded as NED inhibited bacterial growth till well 8 at a concentration of 0.78 µg/ml, on the other hand, the CD inhibited bacterial growth till well 6 at a concentration of 0.62 µg/ml. Growth performance and mortality rates in the groups which treated with NED is significantly reduced. Conclusion: Treatment of broiler's drinking water with NED at doses of 0.5 ml and 1 ml instead of pure CD was able to enforce a new perspective, antibacterial efficacy, and enhancing the productive performance and reducing the mortality rates of broilers.