Prebiotics: An Emerging Nutritional Approach for Improving Gut Health of Livestock and Poultry

Abstract

The complex interactions between diet, intestinal mucosa and intestinal microbiota affect health status in livestock and poultry. Various approaches have been tried to exploit this relationship for achieving maximum health benefits and supplementation of prebiotics constitutes one of them. Now a days prebiotics have become news mainly as an alternative to probiotics, which are difficult to handle in foodstuffs, but whose benefits to gut health are well established. Commercially available prebiotics are mostly inulin, fructo-oligosaccharides, mannan-oligosaccharides, galacto-oligosaccharides, transgalacto-oligosaccharides, lactulose and oligochitosan, etc. Prebiotics selectively stimulate the growth of Bifidobacterium sp., Lactobacillus sp. and certain butyrate producing bacteria and suppress the growth of toxogenic Escherichia coli, Clostridium perfringens, Streptococcus sp., peptococci, bacilli, Staphylococcus sp., Salmonella enteritidis, Campylobacter sp., bacteriodaeceae, pseudomonad, yeast and mould. Dietary supplementation of prebiotics improve a plethora of gut health attributes like hindgut fermentation, gut mucosal integrity, lipid and glucose homeostasis, mineral bio-availability and immune response in livestock and poultry owing to which many feed and pharma industries have been established. Their inclusion in diet can also suppress boar taint, control faecal odour, prevent colon cancer and reduce infestation of several parasites such as Ascaris sp., Trichuris sp. and Oesophagostomum dentatum. Their satietogenic effect results from decline in ghrelin secretion which in turn regulates body weight gain in obese animals. Prebiotics may eventually replace the role of antibiotics as growth stimulants in fishery, poultry and animal husbandry sectors. Because of all these multitude of benefits, inclusion of prebiotics in basal diet should be taken into consideration while preparing formula feed for livestock and poultry.

The effects of galactooligosaccharide on systemic and mucosal immune response, growth performance and appetite related gene transcript in goldfish (Carassius auratus gibelio)

“…However, studies on mice and other animal revealed that the addition of prebiotics and fermentable fibers into the diet suppress plasma ghrelin and enhance PYY levels [36,37].…”

Short-chain fructo-oligosaccharides enhances intestinal barrier function by attenuating mucosa inflammation and altering colonic microbiota composition of weaning piglets

“…Therefore, consistent efforts have been made to seek natural substituents of antibiotics and zinc oxide to improve the growth performance of weaning piglets. An approach to overcome impaired growth and health of piglets during the weaning period is by administration of prebiotics in the feed (Samal and Behura 2015).…”

Effects of dietary supplementation with Jerusalem artichoke (<i>Helianthus tuberosus</i> L.) tubers on growth performance, nutrient digestibility as well as activity and composition of large intestinal microbiota in rats

“…and Lactobacillus spp.) residing in the hindgut, but not to the potentially pathogenic bacteria such as toxin producing Clostridium spp., proteolytic Bacteroides and toxigenic Escherichia coli (Samal and Behura, 2015). Among wildly known prebiotics, inulin-type fructans are the most commonly used.…”