Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Poultry Microbiological Safety and Processing Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #365215
Research Project: Production and Processing Intervention Strategies for Poultry Associated Foodborne Pathogens

Location: Poultry Microbiological Safety and Processing Research Unit

Title: Synbiotic supplementation to decrease salmonella colonization in the intestine and carcass contamination in broiler birds

Author
item SHANMUGASUNDARAM, R - University Of Georgia
item MORTADA, M - University Of Georgia
item Cosby, Douglas
item SING, M - University Of Georgia
item APPLEGATE, T - University Of Georgia
item SYED, B - Biomin America, Inc
item PENDER, C - Biomin America, Inc
item CURRY, S - Biomin America, Inc
item MURUGESAN, G - Biomin America, Inc
item SELVARAJ, R - University Of Georgia

Submitted to: PLOS ONE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/26/2019
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: With the need to eliminate the use of antibiotics in the poultry industry, other strategies are necessary to decrease the contamination of carcasses exiting the processing plants. The use of multiple good bacteria with the addition of a specific sugar which provides a necessary nutrient for the bacteria has been demonstrated to be effective in other meat animals. This study compared the use a commercial product, an antibiotic currently used in the industry and a simple basal diet with no additions. The commercial product was able to reduce the bacterial load in the ceca and on the broiler carcasses as well as the antibiotic. This demonstrates that use of beneficial bacteria with sugar supplementation is a viable alternative to antibiotic use.

Technical Abstract: In vitro and in vivo experiments were conducted to study the effects of synbiotic supplementation on Salmonella enterica ser. Enteritidis (SE) proliferation, caecal colonization and broiler carcass contamination. Lactobacillus teuteri, Enterococcus faecium, Bifidobacterium animalis and Pediococcus acidilactici culture supernatants decreased (P<0.05) the in vitro proliferation of SE at 1:1 supernatant:pathogen dilution. A total of 240 Cobb-500 broiler chicks were randomly allotted to three treatment groups (8 replicates/groups with 10 birds/replicate): control (basal diet), antibiotic (Virginiamycin at 20 mg/kg feed), sybiotic (PoultryStar® ME at 0.5 g/kg feed containing - L. reuteri, E. faecium, B. animalis, P. acidilactici and a fructooligosaccharide) from day of hatch. At 20 d of age, all birds in experimental groups were orrally inoculated with 250 µl of 1 X 10e9 CFU/mL SE. Antibiotic supplementation increased (P<0.05) BW and FC compared to the control group, while birds in the synbiotic supplementation had intermediate BW and FC that were not significantly different than both the control and antibiotic group at 42 d of age among the groups. Antibiotic and synbiotic supplementation decreased (P<0.05) caecal SE load by 0.90 and 0.85 log units/g and chilled carcass SE load by 1.4 and .15 log units/mL of rinsate compared to the control group at 42 d of age (21 dpi). Relative abundances of IL-10, IL-1, RLR-4 and IFN' mRNA, analyzed by quantitative real time PCR, were decreased (P<0.05) in the antibiotic and synbiotic supplementation groups compared to the control birds at 42 d of age (21 dpi). It can be concluded that synbiotic supplementation decreased SE proliferation in vitro and decreased SE load in the caecal contents and chilled broiler carcasses.