Probiotics are live microorganisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer health benefits to the host. The use of probiotics in poultry has increased steadily over the years due to higher demand for antibiotic-free poultry. The objective of this systematic review is to present and evaluate the effects of probiotics on the nutrient utilization, growth and laying performance, gut histomorphology, immunity, and gut microbiota of poultry. An electronic search was conducted using relevant keywords to include papers pertinent to the topic. Seventeen commonly used probiotic species were critically assessed for their roles in the performance and gut health of poultry under existing commercial production conditions. The results showed that probiotic supplementation could have the following effects: (1) modification of the intestinal microbiota, (2) stimulation of the immune system, (3) reduction in inflammatory reactions, (4) prevention of pathogen colonization, (5) enhancement of growth performance, (6) alteration of the ileal digestibility and total tract apparent digestibility coefficient, and (7) decrease in ammonia and urea excretion. Thus, probiotics can serve as a potential alternative to antibiotic growth promoters in poultry production. However, factors such as the intestinal health condition of birds, the probiotic inclusion level; and the incubation conditions, feedstuff, and water quality offered to birds may affect the outcome. This systematic review provides a summary of the use of probiotics in poultry production, as well as the potential role of probiotics in the nutrient utilization, growth and laying performance, and gut health of poultry.

Early growth and development of the gastrointestinal tract are of critical importance to enhance nutrients' utilization and optimize the growth of poultry. In the current production system, chicks do not have access to feed for about 48–72 h during transportation between hatchery and production farms. This lag time affects early nutrient intake, natural exposure to the microbiome, and the initiation of beneficial stimulation of the immune system of chicks. In ovo feeding can provide early nutrients and additives to embryos, stimulate gut microflora, and mitigate the adverse effects of starvation during pre-and post-hatch periods. Depending on the interests, the compounds are delivered to the embryo either around day 12 or 17 to 18 of incubation and via air sac or amnion. In ovo applications of bioactive compounds like vaccines, nutrients, antibiotics, prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, creatine, follistatin, L-carnitine, CpG oligodeoxynucleotide, growth hormone, polyclonal antimyostatin antibody, peptide YY, and insulin-like growth factor-1 have been studied. These compounds affect hatchability, body weight at hatch, physiological functions, immune responses, gut morphology, gut microbiome, production performance, and overall health of birds. However, the route, dose, method, and time of in ovo injection and host factors can cause variation, and thereby inconsistencies in results. Studies using this method have manifested the benefits of injection of different single bioactive compounds. But for excelling in poultry production, researchers should precisely know the proper route and time of injection, optimum dose, and effective combination of different compounds. This review paper will provide an insight into current practices and available findings related to in ovo feeding on performance and health parameters of poultry, along with challenges and future perspectives of this technique.

The present study aimed to determine clinical prevalence of diseases and disorders in cattle and goat at the Upazila Veterinary Hospital, Beanibazar, Sylhet district of Bangladesh from August 2016 to July 2017. A total of 988 clinical cases (683 cattle and 305 goats) were recorded and analyzed. Each clinical case was diagnosed on the basis of general examination, clinical examination, microscopic examination and using common laboratory techniques. The clinical cases were categorized into three categories based on the treatment required (Medical, Gynaeco-obstetrical and Surgical). Among the clinical cases, highest percentage was found for medical (cattle 86.82% and goats 95.41%) followed by surgical (cattle 7.47% and goats 4.26%) and gynaeco-obstetrical (cattle 5.71% and goats 0.33%). Within the medical cases, gastrointestinal nematodiasis (cattle 15.96% and goats 14.75%) and digestive disorder or diarrhea (cattle 13.62% and goats 12.79%) were recorded as main diseases in cattle and goats. On the other hand, gynaeco-obstetrical and surgical cases were found as significant (<3% in each occurrence). The current investigation could be helpful in designing control measures for the prevalent diseases.

Present study was conducted to compare the production and reproduction performance of Ghungroo and Large Black breeds maintained at ICAR Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region, Nagaland Centre, Jharnapani, Nagaland. The birth weight (1.09 vs. 0.96 kg), pre-weaning growth rate (174.90 vs. 141.40 g/day) and matured body weight at 7 months (64.74 kg vs. 53.13 kg) were significantly higher (p<0.05) in Large Black gilts as compared to Ghungroo. However, the age at first estrus (209.70 vs. 244.42 days) and conception (237.44 vs. 260.81 days) was significantly lower in Ghungroo than Large Black. The litter size at birth (10.24 vs. 8.38) was significantly higher in Ghungroo than Large Black however, similar pattern in litter size at weaning (7.64 vs. 7.20), litter weight at birth (9.28 vs. 9.96 kg) and weaning (47.35 vs. 52.50 kg) were recorded in Ghungroo and Large Black, respectively. The pre-weaning mortality was higher in Ghungroo (2.64) due to lower birth weight and larger litter compared to the Large Black (1.47, p<0.01). Parity wise comparison of major reproductive traits revealed that litter size at birth and pre-weaning mortality were influenced by breed as well as parity, whereas the individual weight at birth and weaning were only influenced by breed not by parities. Thus, from this study it is concluded that the Ghungroo breed matured early, produce more litter and performs similar to the popular Large Black breed under organized farm condition.

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Maintaining a healthy gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is critical for better nutrient utilization, optimum performance, and overall health of poultry. Thus, several nutritional strategies have been tried to improve poultry’s gut health. More recently, different nutrients and feed additives are being used in poultry diets with some success when antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) are not an acceptable option anymore. However, effective modulation of gut health depends on the methods and timing of the compound being available to host animals. Routinely, the alternatives to AGP like prebiotics, probiotics, symbiotic, enzymes, and other nutrients are provided in feed or water to poultry. However, the GIT of the newly hatched poultry is functionally immature, despite going through significant morphological, cellular, and molecular changes toward the end of incubation. Thus, the early growth and development of GIT are of critical importance to enhance nutrients utilization and optimize the growth performance of poultry. Maternal nutrition and in ovo feeding have been used and found to be effective in improving gut health but with inconsistent results. The effects of maternal nutrition on the development and viability of embryo and post-hatch growth performance of birds are documented. However, there is limited information on how maternal nutrition affects the gut health of chicks. In contrast, information on the same from in ovo feeding of nutrients and feed additives has increased in recent years. The results show that in ovo feeding can be a good tool to modulate gut health of post-hatch birds positively. However, more information is needed on the proper route and time of inoculation, optimum doses, and effective combination of different compounds to maximize the benefits of in ovo feeding technique in poultry production.