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Title: Impact of litter salmonella on the recovered salmonella from broiler crop and ceca following feed withdrawal

Author
item Buhr, Richard - Jeff
item Hinton Jr, Arthur
item Cason Jr, John
item Cox Jr, Nelson
item Bourassa, Dianna
item Rigsby, Luanne

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/1/2011
Publication Date: 7/16/2011
Citation: Buhr, R.J., Hinton Jr, A., Cason Jr, J.A., Cox Jr, N.A., Bourassa, D.V., Rigsby, L.L. 2011. Impact of litter salmonella on the recovered salmonella from broiler crop and ceca following feed withdrawal. Meeting Abstract. 90(74):24.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: To evaluate the impact of litter Salmonella status during feed withdrawal, 2 pens of 5-wk-old broilers (n=10/pen) in separate rooms were challenged with marker strains of either Salmonella Montevideo (nalidixic acid resistant) or Salmonella Heidelberg (streptomycin resistant) by oral gavage. Three d post-challenge 1 pen of broilers for each Salmonella strain was switched and all pens subjected to a 12 h feed withdrawal under continuous lighting. The litter surface of each pen was sampled by stepped-on drag swabs prior to switching broilers and after the feed withdrawal period. Broilers were euthanized and the crop and ceca were aseptically removed from each carcass for Salmonella isolation following enrichment and streaking onto both Brilliant Green Sulfa (BGS)+nalidixic acid (200ppm) and BGS+streptomycin (200ppm). For broilers that remained in challenged pens, only the challenge Salmonella was recovered from the litter before and following feed withdrawal. For the switched broilers, S. Heidelberg was recovered from litter in each both pens in both trials and S. Montevideo was recovered from both pens in only one trial. Broilers challenged with S. Heidelberg that remained in these pens only had S. Heidelberg recovered from crops 20/20 and ceca 20/20. From the broilers challenged with S. Montevideo that remained in these pens, only challenge Salmonella strain was recovered (but at lower prevalence) from crops 3/20 and ceca 13/20. Those broilers challenged with S. Heidelberg and switched to S. Montevideo pens had only S. Heidelberg recovered from the crops 20/20 and ceca 18/20. In contrast, for broilers challenged with S. Montevideo and switched into S. Heidelberg pens, their crops had either S. Montevideo or S. Heidelberg recovered from 4/20 (separate broilers), but only S. Montevideo recovered from the ceca 16/20. S. Heidelberg remained colonized in 100% of challenged broiler crops and ceca and when exposed to S. Montevideo in the litter during feed withdrawal, S. Montevideo was unable to colonize. Colonization of the crop during feed withdrawal by Salmonella appears to depend on both the challenge and litter Salmonella status. However, ceca Salmonella status following feed withdrawal appears only influenced by the challenge Salmonella and not litter Salmonella status.