Location: Poultry Production and Product Safety Research
Project Number: 6022-31230-001-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Mar 29, 2016
End Date: Mar 2, 2021
Objective:
Objective 1: Investigate the use of selected probiotics, natural plant compounds, and bacteriophage, as potential alternatives to antibiotics and mechanisms to reduce the levels of Salmonella and Campylobacter in poultry. Evaluate these products in multiple production/processing systems including conventional, pasture raised, and organic systems.
Sub-objective 1A: Reduce the incidence of Campylobacter in preharvest poultry by selecting probiotics that utilize mucin for growth and competitively inhibit Campylobacter colonization in broiler chickens.
Sub-objective 1B: Reduce the incidence of Salmonella and Campylobacter in pre and postharvest poultry by utilizing plant extracts and other natural compounds such as chitosan, ß-resorcylic acid, naringenin and rutin hydrate.
Sub-objective 1C: Reduce the incidence of Campylobacter in pre and postharvest poultry using mucin-adapted bacteriophage and genome targeting CRISPR-Cas system.
Sub-objective 1D: Evaluate the genome wide effect of natural plant compounds and probiotics on Campylobacter especially genes critical for colonization in chicken using high-throughput deep sequencing of mRNA transcripts using RNA-seq.
Objective 2: Develop innovative strategies for increasing disease resistance and improving immunity to foodborne pathogens of poultry using egg shell membrane technology.
Sub-objective 2A: Determine effects of egg shell membrane on immune indices of chickens.
Sub-objective 2B: Develop a proof of concept model for mucosal modulation of immunity by enriching HESM with Salmonella and Campylobacter.
Approach:
Our overall goal is to develop novel natural treatment strategies to reduce or eliminate the incidence of Salmonella and Campylobacter colonization in poultry and contamination in products. Our strategy is to target the site of colonization in the bird, the mucosal lining of the crypts, by evaluating selected probiotic isolates and bacteriophages against Campylobacter that competitively inhibit Campylobacter within the enteric crypt environment. For the studies with natural antimicrobial compounds in feed, the individual effects of ß-resorcylic acid, chitosan, rutin hydrate and naringenin will be tested in broiler chickens, and then the potential additive effects of combining these treatments will be evaluated. Previous results demonstrate that young birds are predictive of efficacy in market age birds (Solis de los Santos et al., 2008a, b, 2009). Use of younger birds reduces the time and expense (e.g., feed costs) so that more isolates or compounds can be tested. Optimal concentrations and combinations will be tested in market-age birds.
