[Coccidiosis of rabbits and its control]

The investigations were performed on 6 farm rabbitries in Wrocław district. Average extensiveness of coccidia infection was 95%, while intensity ranged from 50 to 408,700 ocysts/g of faeces. Nine species of coccidia were identified. Eimeria perforans (84.5%) and E. stiedai (73.2%) dominated, E. coecicola was noticed most seldom (20.7%). In young rabbits up to 3 months of life the infections were caused by 5-9 species of coccidia. However, in animals from breeding herd there prevailed infections caused by 1-3 species. Congeneric infections were stated very rarely, i.e. in 5.7% of infected animals only. Dynamic changes in the intensity of coccidia infections in rabbits in the course of one year breeding cycle on one of the farms demonstrated the occurrence of two peaks in females used for reproduction: the first one in the perinatal period and the second one in the period preceding weaning. The letter one, higher than the first one, was caused by keeping young rabbits with mothers for 8-10 weeks. The studies on the effectiveness of anticoccidial drugs were carried out on California White rabbits (age 5-7 weeks), infected naturally with 9 species of coccidia. Rabbits were given for 5 weeks the following anticoccidials: lasalocid (Avatec), maduramycin (Cygro), robenidine (Cycostat), salinomycin (Sacox), monensin (Elancoban), clopidol + methylbenzoquate (Lerbek) and narasin (Monteban). The best results were obtained with salinomycin at the dosages of 35, 50, 25 ppm and maduramycin at 2 and 3 ppm. Equally effective, but characterized by lower production indices, were: clopidol + methylbenzoquate (216.7 ppm), lasalocid (90, 125 ppm) and monensin (20 ppm). Robenidine was very effective against intestinal coccidia at the dose of 66 ppm, however it had weak effect on E. stiedai's infection. Narasin and maduramycin (4.5 ppm) had toxic effect on animals. A field trial (anticoccidials applied for 6 weeks in does and their progeny) confirmed high effectiveness of salinomycin (25 ppm), maduramycin (1.5 ppm) and monensin (20 ppm).