A Review of the Effects and Production of Spore-Forming Probiotics for Poultry

Abstract

One of the main problems in the poultry industry is the search for a viable replacement for antibiotic growth promoters. This issue requires a “one health” approach because the uncontrolled use of antibiotics in poultry can lead to the development of antimicrobial resistance, which is a concern not only in animals, but for humans as well. One of the promising ways to overcome this challenge is found in probiotics due to their wide range of features and mechanisms of action for health promotion. Moreover, spore-forming probiotics are suitable for use in the poultry industry because of their unique ability, encapsulation, granting them protection from the harshest conditions and resulting in improved availability for hosts’ organisms. This review summarizes the information on gastrointestinal tract microbiota of poultry and their interaction with commensal and probiotic spore-forming bacteria. One of the most important topics of this review is the absence of uniformity in spore-forming probiotic trials in poultry. In our opinion, this problem can be solved by the creation of standards and checklists for these kinds of trials such as those used for pre-clinical and clinical trials in human medicine. Last but not least, this review covers problems and challenges related to spore-forming probiotic manufacturing.

Probiotic Bacillus subtilis LF11 Protects Intestinal Epithelium Against Salmonella Infection

“…Probiotics is gaining increasing attention as an antibiotic alternative used in the poultry husbandry ( Nami et al., 2015 ; de Melo Pereira et al., 2018 ). Among the various probiotic strains, B. subtilis is the major strain widely used as a functional feed additive ( Elshaghabee et al., 2017 ; Du et al., 2019 ; Popov et al., 2021 ). This species possesses well-known industrial traits and physiological characteristics ( Elshaghabee et al., 2017 ; Popov et al., 2021 ).…”

“…Among the various probiotic strains, B. subtilis is the major strain widely used as a functional feed additive ( Elshaghabee et al., 2017 ; Du et al., 2019 ; Popov et al., 2021 ). This species possesses well-known industrial traits and physiological characteristics ( Elshaghabee et al., 2017 ; Popov et al., 2021 ). The tolerance to harsh environments such as pH, bile salts, and heat endows B. subtilis high viability in the intestinal tracts, processing, and storage ( Lee et al., 2017 ).…”

“…The tolerance to harsh environments such as pH, bile salts, and heat endows B. subtilis high viability in the intestinal tracts, processing, and storage ( Lee et al., 2017 ). Additionally, B. subtilis produces a variety of digestive enzymes, antimicrobial peptides and other biological active molecules, improving the growth performance of broilers and feed efficiency when supplemented in diets ( Manhar et al., 2016 ; Ramlucken et al., 2019 ; Akhtar et al., 2021 ; Algburi et al., 2021 ; Popov et al., 2021 ). Moreover, B. subtilis is beneficial to the host health through modulation of microbiota composition and humoral immune responses ( Khan and Chousalkar, 2020 ; Kawarizadeh et al., 2021 ).…”

Beneficial Effects of Spore-Forming Bacillus Probiotic Bacteria Isolated From Poultry Microbiota on Broilers' Health, Growth Performance, and Immune System

“…Some authors suggest that spore-forming probiotics, especially Bacillus species, have advantages over other probiotics due to their encapsulation ability which is associated with their survival and colonization in the digestive tract ( 13 , 14 ). The beneficial effects of Bacillus probiotics in the poultry industry include improving (i) egg quality and production rate, (ii) body weight (BW), (iii) average daily weight gain (ADWG), (iv) feed intake (FI), (v) feed conversion ratio (FCR) and (vi) meat and sperm quality ( 14 – 19 ). However, some studied Bacillus probiotics did not positively impact the above-mentioned parameters ( 14 , 20 , 21 ).…”

“…The beneficial effects of Bacillus probiotics in the poultry industry include improving (i) egg quality and production rate, (ii) body weight (BW), (iii) average daily weight gain (ADWG), (iv) feed intake (FI), (v) feed conversion ratio (FCR) and (vi) meat and sperm quality ( 14 – 19 ). However, some studied Bacillus probiotics did not positively impact the above-mentioned parameters ( 14 , 20 , 21 ). Therefore, qualitative studies should be conducted to investigate the beneficial influence of spore-forming probiotics on the poultry industry ( 14 ).…”