Reintroduction of microflora from necrotic enteritis-resistant chickens reduces gross lesions and improves performance of necrotic enteritis-challenged broilers

Title
Reintroduction of microflora from necrotic enteritis-resistant chickens reduces gross lesions and improves performance of necrotic enteritis-challenged broilers
Publication Date
2017
Author(s)
Keerqin, Chake
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4157-1489
Email: ckeerqi2@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:ckeerqi2
Morgan, Natalie
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9663-2365
Email: nmorga20@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:nmorga20
Wu, Shubiao
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1790-6015
Email: swu3@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:swu3
Svihus, Birger
Choct, Mingan
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2242-8222
Email: mchoct@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:mchoct
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Place of publication
United States of America
DOI
10.3382/japr/pfx015
UNE publication id
une:22981
Abstract
Probiotics feature one or multiple strains of viable bacteria that beneficially modulate the intestinal health of the host. The key criteria for probiotics, like all feed additives, are that they must be safe and efficacious to use. One of the efficacious measures for probiotics used in poultry feed is their ability to act as an alternative to in-feed antibiotics against economically significant diseases like necrotic enteritis (NE). The current study investigated the effect of the reintroduction of crude ileal and cecal contents from previously NE-challenged chickens on performance, mortality, and intestinal lesions of young broilers under NE challenge. As expected, a subclinical NE challenge depressed bird performance (P < 0.001) and caused intestinal damage. Cloacal administration of both ileal and cecal crude flora inoculants significantly (P = 0.021) improved feed conversion efficiency at d 35. The severity of NE-associated intestinal lesions also was alleviated by the inoculants (P = 0.049), whereby cecal flora inoculant markedly reduced lesion scores in challenged birds, and the ileal crude flora inoculum numerically improved lesion score. These preliminary findings suggest that the gut microbiome of birds plays a significant role in the susceptibility of broilers to NE, and more work is required to elucidate the mechanisms by which this occurs.
Link
Citation
The Journal of Applied Poultry Research, 26(3), p. 449-457
ISSN
1537-0437
1056-6171
1542-6629
Start page
449
End page
457

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