Effects of prebiotics, probiotics, and their combination on growth performance, small intestine morphology, and resident Lactobacillus of male broilers

Abstract

Effects of commercial antimicrobials and the individual and combinational use of commercial prebiotics and probiotics in feed from d zero to 41 on the growth performance, small intestine size, jejunal morphology, and ileal resident bacteria population of broiler chickens were determined. A total of 1,040 one-day-old male Ross × Ross 708 broilers were randomly distributed to 80 floor pens (5 treatments, 16 replications per treatment, 13 chicks per pen). Five dietary treatments were employed: 1) a corn soybean-meal basal diet (served as a negative control diet, NC); 2) a basal diet supplemented with a commercial prebiotic product (Pre); 3) a basal diet supplemented with a probiotic product containing Bacillus subtilis spores (Pro); 4) a basal diet supplemented with both prebiotic and probiotic products (Pre + Pro); and 5) a basal diet supplemented with commercial antimicrobials (served as a positive control diet, PC). At d 14, Pre diets improved the relative level of Lactobacillus in ileal mucosa as compared to NC, Pro, or PC diets (P = 0.045) without improving broiler BW. Broilers fed PC diets exhibited the highest BW gain from d 15 to 27, the lowest duodenum, jejunum, and ileum relative weights as percentage of BW at d 27, and the highest breast weight at d 42 (P = 0.026, 0.035, 0.002, 0.025, and 0.035, respectively). Broilers fed Pro or Pre + Pro diets exhibited higher BW gain from d 28 to 41 (P = 0.005) and higher overall BW gain from d zero to 41 (P = 0.039) than those fed other diets. Dietary treatments did not affect jejunal morphology or ileal resident Escherichia coli level at any age. From our results, including spores of Bacillus subtilis in feed may stimulate growth at a later age and may facilitate broilers in reaching their target weight sooner. Therefore, probiotics are recommended as potential alternatives to antimicrobials in chicken diets, especially in grower and finisher feed.

Global Restriction of Using Antibiotic Growth Promoters and Alternative Strategies in Poultry Production

“…In addition, several researchers 113,114 investigated the effects of naturally synthesised AMPs on chicken and they reported that the birds fed naturally synthesised AMPs had improved growth performance, gut morphology, mucosal immune characteristics and serum IgA levels compared to unsupplemented birds. In conclusion, AMPs have several beneficial effects on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, intestinal morphology and gut microbiota in animals 37,105 . Therefore, AMPs may be used as a viable alternative to AGPs in the poultry industry, if available on the market.…”

“…Refs 31,36,37,41,[144][145][146][147] Prebiotics Stimulates the growth of non-pathogenic bacteria; provides substrates for the bacterial fermentation in the lower gut of the host; stimulates immunity and neutralises toxins; inhibits colonisation of pathogenic bacteria; provides energy and other limiting nutrients for intestinal mucosa; enhances growth and feed efficiency.…”

“…Currently, supplemental DFM has received special attention from the broiler industry to promote the balance and quality of the intestinal microflora for the host, but the efficacy of these products varies according to their production procedure and practical application. Several researchers reported that feeding DFM had improved the growth performance of broiler chickens 36,37 and egg production of laying hens 38 . By contrast, other researchers did not find any positive effects of using dietary DFM on growth performance of broiler chickens 31,35 and pigs 39 .…”

Functional Role of Probiotics and Prebiotics on Skin Health and Disease

“…Most common species of probiotics belong in the families of Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium and Streptococcus [9] with the first two families being mostly used in studies related to human health [10]. As these microorganisms are naturally found in the gut microbiota, most studies are focused on their effects in the context of the natural function in the gut and as preventive or therapeutic agents against disease development [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. To this end, probiotics have been used for the study and treatment of intestinal diseases such as gastroenteritis [19], intestinal hyperpermeability [20], urinary tract infection [21], intestinal dysbiosis [22], irritable bowel syndrome [23], Crohn's disease [24], colon cancer [25,26], ulcerative colitis [27,28] and peptic ulcer [23].…”

Effect of water acidification on some morphological, digestive and production traits in broiler chickens

“…However, this continuous use of antibiotics resulted in development of drug-resistant bacteria, drug residues in the body of animals, and imbalance of normal microflora. Different natural substances, such as probiotics, prebiotics (Wang et al, 2016), phytobiotics (Abd El-Hakim et al, 2009;Hassan et al, 2015), enzymes (Ao et al, 2009;Benţea et al, 2010), humic substances (Šamudovská & Demeterová, 2010), and acidifiers (Byrd et al, 2001;Eftekhari et al, 2015), can be used as feed additives and may improve health of animals, reduce microbial pathogens (e.g. Escherichia coli, Salmonella or Campylobacter) without the use of antibiotics, and enhance nutrition digestibility for better performance and to decrease the accumulation of ammonia in premises.…”