Anticoccidial Efficacy of Sheep Bile as a Potential Therapy Alternative for Eimeria columbae Infection in Domestic Pigeons: An in Vitro Study

Abstract

Background: Eimeria columbae (E. columbae) is a disease that threatens domestic pigeon health and productivity due to resistance and the side effects of treatments. Therefore, there is a pressing need to explore alternative therapies to manage E. columbae infection. This study investigates the possibility of bile application as an alternative treatment to assess its anticoccidial efficacy and determine the concentration with the most substantial effect on oocysts and sporozoites. Methods: We subjected samples of oocysts to several concentrations of bile in a solution containing 2.5% potassium dichromate at 12.5%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% to assay oocyst vitality during the course of 24, 48, 72, and 96 h. In addition, we used 125, 250, 500, 750, and 1000 μg/mL concentrations to determine anti-sporozoite efficacy after 12 and 24 h. Results: The infrared analysis of the bile showed many bioactive components associated with plant secondary metabolites. Furthermore, the phenol and flavonoid totals were estimated. The results showed statistically significant differences at p < 0.05 in the 100% and 75% concentrations whereby sheep bile liquid could inhibit E. columbae oocysts by approximately 94% and 81%, respectively. In addition, bile also demonstrated maximum inhibition of E. columbae sporozoite vitality (92%) at a dose of 1000 g/mL and minimum inhibition of 8% at a concentration of 125 g/mL. The sporulation percentage was highly negatively correlated with the exposure time (R = –0.97, p < 0.0001; R = –0.80, and p < 0.001) at 100% and 75% concentrations, respectively. Thus, inhibiting oocysts was found to prevent infection and enhance the birds health, which contributes to improving the quality of the product, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Conclusions: The overall results of the current study suggest that sheep bile possesses inhibitory properties for oocyst sporulation, meaning that it could be employed in coccidia management.