Growth promoting and anti-oxidant effects of magnolia bark extract in chicken uninfected or co-infected with clostridium perfringens and eimeria maxima as an experimental model of necrotic enteritis

Authors: OH, SUNGTAEK - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA); GADDE, UHJVALA - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA); BRAVO, DAVID - Pancosma Sa; LILLEHOJ, ERIC - University Of Maryland School Of Medicine; Lillehoj, Hyun

Submitted to: Developmental and Comparative Immunology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/17/2018
Publication Date: 1/30/2018
Citation: Oh, S., Gadde, U.D., Bravo, D., Lillehoj, E.P., Lillehoj, H.S. 2018. Growth promoting and anti-oxidant effects of magnolia bark extract in chicken uninfected or co-infected with clostridium perfringens and eimeria maxima as an experimental model of necrotic enteritis. Developmental and Comparative Immunology. 2(4):nzy009.

Interpretive Summary: The increasing restriction of antibiotics in animal agriculture worldwide will continue to impact poultry production. Treatment option for some infectious diseases like necrotic enteritis (NE) which is caused by Clostridium perfringens in commercial chickens will be limited. Therefore, the development of drug-free biocontrol approaches to reduce the burden of bacterial pathogens on food animal production systems will become very important for NE control in commercial poultry production. In this paper, ARS scientists collaborated with private industry scientists in Switzerland to identify bioactive botanical phytochemicals that reduced ill effects of NE. The in vivo NE disease challenge model showed that Magnolia bark from the Magnolia officinalis of the Family Magnoliaceae exerts numerous health benefits including antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory effects. Dietary magnolia bark extract, when given to newly hatched chickens, showed many positive effects on growth performance and decreases oxidative stress associated with the experimental NE model. These findings provide important information that will be used to develop dietary strategies to improve poultry health, disease resistance and productivity without antibiotic growth promoters.

Technical Abstract: Background: Magnolia tree bark has been widely used in traditional Asian medicine. However, no studies have been reported investigating the effects of dietary supplementation with Magnolia bark extract in chickens. Objective: We tested the hypothesis that dietary supplementation of chickens with a Magnolia officinalis bark extract would increase growth performance in uninfected and Eimeria maxima/Clostridium perfringens co-infected chickens. Methods: Chickens were fed from hatch with a standard diet or a diet supplemented with 0.33 mg/kg or 0.56 mg/kg of M. officinalis bark extract. At day 14, half of the chickens were orally infected with E. maxima, followed by C. perfringens infection at day 18 to induce experimental avian necrotic enteritis. Daily feed intake, feed conversion ratio, body weight gain, and final body weight were measured as indicators of growth performance. Serum a-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) levels were measured as an indicator of systemic inflammation and intestinal lesion scores were determined as a marker of disease progression. Transcript levels for catalase, heme oxygenase 1, and superoxide dismutase in the intestine, liver, spleen, and skeletal muscle were measured as indicators of antioxidant status. Results: Feed intake, body weight gain, and final body weight were increased between days 1 and 35 of age in uninfected and E. maxima/C. perfringens co-infected chickens fed with M/H low or M/H high diets compared with unsupplemented controls. Gut lesion scores were decreased, while a-1-AGP levels were unchanged, in co-infected chickens fed Magnolia-supplemented diets vs. unsupplemented controls. In general, transcripts for antioxidant enzymes were increased in chickens fed with Magnolia-supplemented diets compared with unsupplemented controls, and significant interactions between dietary supplementation and co-infection were observed for all antioxidant enzyme transcript levels. Conclusions: Magnolia bark extract might be useful for future development of dietary strategies to improve poultry health, disease resistance, and productivity without the use of antibiotic growth promoters. Keywords: Chicken, Eimeria maxima, Clostridium perfringens, necrotic enteritis, Magnolia