Vaccine of live attenuated Eimeria coecicola boosts immunity against coccidiosis for sustainable rabbit production in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Coccidiosis is one of the prominent problems in the rabbit industry. Control of coccidiosis is mainly used chemical coccidiostat as drug or as substances in feed which induce resistance development and antibiotic contamination. To date, there is no commercially available vaccine to prevent rabbit coccidiosis cases. We used live-attenuated Eimeria coecicola to induce protective immunity against rabbit coccidiosis in Yogyakarta. Pressure selection was performed to attenuate wild-type E. coecicola with lower pathogenicity but possessing the ability to induce an immune response to coccidia infection. The precocious line had reduced the prepatent period to 165 hours and 65% less oocyst production compared to wildtype. The group vaccinated with the precocious line exhibited significantly reduced total oocyst excretion compared to the non-vaccinated group (P < 0.0001) when challenged with homolog infection. Our trial showed no mortality rate and without detrimental responses of vaccinated rabbits (P < 0.0001). The excreted oocysts in post-vaccinated rabbits were found since the dosage of 5 x 102 which was presenting fecundity and the ability of E. coecicola precocious line to recirculate. Later, the recirculate oocysts may provoke a continuous flock immunity. The vaccine candidate is useful as the more environmentally friendly approach and disease prevention management for sustainable rabbit production.