Effects of feeding different postbiotic metabolite combinations produced by Lactobacillus plantarum strains on egg quality and production performance, faecal parameters and plasma cholesterol in laying hens

Abstract

BackgroundProbiotics are beneficial bacteria that are able to colonize the host digestive system, increasing the natural flora and preventing colonization of pathogenic organisms and thus, securing optimal utility of the feed. However, commercial probiotic often do not meet the expected standards and the viability of the efficacy of these strains remains questionable. Another major issue has been highlighted in relation to the application of antibiotic resistant probiotics, the antibiotic resistant gene can be transferred between organisms. Recently, postbiotic metabolites produced from microbes have been extensively studied as feed additive in order to substitute in-feed antibiotics.ResultsNo significant difference (P > 0.05) was found among the treatment groups on overall feed intake, egg weight, egg mass and feed conversion efficiency. COM456 had a significant reduction (P < 0.05) in faecal pH compared to the other groups at 28 weeks of age onwards. COM456 had significant higher (P < 0.05) level of lactic acid bacteria counts from 30 weeks of age onwards, followed by COM246 and COM345 at 32 and 34 weeks of age, respectively. Significant reduction of faecal Enterobacteriaceae (P < 0.05) were observed in COM246 and COM456 from 30 weeks of age onwards. The lowest levels (P < 0.05) of plasma and egg yolk cholesterol were observed in COM456, followed by COM345 and COM246. There was no significant difference in terms of yolk weight between the treatment groups. Significant higher (P < 0.05) content of C18:3, C20:2 and C22:6 were found in treatments supplemented with metabolite combinations as compared with the control group.ConclusionsThe present study demonstrated the positive effects of metabolite combinations supplementation in laying hens. Increase in hen-day egg production was observed in all treatments supplemented with metabolite combinations. In addition, the metabolite combinations, COM456 had reduced the faecal pH and faecal Enterobacteriaceae population, improved the faecal lactic acid bacteria, reduced the plasma and yolk cholesterol and improved the faecal volatile fatty acids content. Postbiotic metabolite combinations can be used as an alternative feed additive to achieve high productivity and better animal health while reducing the use of conventional chemotherapeutic agents such as in-feed antimicrobials.

Dietary Postbiotic Lactobacillus plantarum Improves Serum and Ruminal Antioxidant Activity and Upregulates Hepatic Antioxidant Enzymes and Ruminal Barrier Function in Post-Weaning Lambs

“…The potential of postbiotics is ascribed to the existence of organic acids and antimicrobial compounds like bacteriocins, which possess inhibitory ability against important pathogenic bacteria including Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Pediococcus acidilactici, Salmonella typhimurium and Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) [1,2]. The dietary supplementation of postbiotics of monogastric like broilers [3][4][5], layer hens [6] and piglets [7,8] were shown to have better performance and were comparable or performed better in comparison to antibiotics. In broilers exposed to heat stress, postbiotics inclusion was shown to alleviate the heat stress effects by the greater growth performance, immune status and gut health [9].…”

Supplementation of Postbiotic RI11 Improves Antioxidant Enzymes Activity, Upregulated Gut Barrier Genes and Reduced Cytokines, Acute Phase Proteins and HSP70 Gene Expression Levels in Heat-Stressed Broilers

“…Recent evidence suggests that the postbiotics produced by L. plantarum strains have an inhibitory effect on several gut pathogens such as L. monocytogenes, VRE, S. typhimurium and Escherichia coli [27][28][29][30]. It has recently been observed that the dietary supplementation of postbiotics promoted the health and growth performance in broilers [31][32][33], layers [34,35] and piglets [36,37]. More recently, postbiotics have been reported enhancing the growth performance, rumen fermentation, immune status, antioxidant defence system, and gut health in small ruminants [38][39][40].…”

Prevalence of avian pathogenic Escherichia coli and antibiotic resistance of E. coli isolates from the ceca of poultry fed Original XPC

“…In piglets, these factors contributed to an overall increase in growth performance, indicated by birth weight, overall weight gain, average weight gain per day, and reduction in diarrhea production (124). A similar study in laying hens found that postbiotics contributed to a reduction in plasma and yolk cholesterol within eggs (122). This is an important benefit to humans that consume chicken eggs because cholesterol is known to be a leading cause of coronary heart disease (126).…”

“…Since its appearance a few years ago, mcr-1 has already been identified in ExPEC isolates worldwide (103,104,(108)(109)(110). The first E. coli villi (122)(123)(124)(125). In piglets, these factors contributed to an overall increase in growth performance, indicated by birth weight, overall weight gain, average weight gain per day, and reduction in diarrhea production (124).…”

“…Results from this same study revealed that in a tissue model postbiotics are more effective at reducing inflammation caused by Salmonella than probiotics.Postbiotics are soluble metabolites produced by probiotic microorganisms that have been shown to have beneficial effects on the health of the GI tract, including bacteriocin effects, improvement of the integrity of the mucosal gut barrier, and modulation of inflammatory mediator secretion(121). The most common postbiotics studied thus far have been metabolites derived from Lactobacillus species, with similar results seen across numerous animal species including rats, broiler chickens, laying hens, and swine(122)(123)(124)(125).Metabolites are most commonly included in the feed of the animal, and studies have determined they are most effective when a variety of metabolites isolated from different strains of Lactobacillus plantarum are included(123,124). Common benefits from the ingestion of these metabolites include a decrease in fecal pH, decrease in prevalence of Enterobacteriaceae in the feces contrasted with an increase in lactic acid bacteria, increase in the concentration of SCFAs present in the feces, and an increase in the height of the intestinal…”