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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Food and Feed Safety Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #86859
Title: REDUCTION OF CECAL LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES IN LEGHORN CHICKS FOLLOWING TREATMENT WITH A COMPETITIVE EXCLUSION CULTURE (CF3**TM)

Author
item Hume, Michael
item Byrd Ii, James - Allen
item Stanker, Larry
item Ziprin, Richard

Submitted to: Southern Poultry Science Society Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/14/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Day-of-hatch Leghorn chicks were treated by oral gavage with CF3**TM, a continuous-flow competitive exclusion culture containing broiler cecal bacteria, followed by an oral challenge with Listeria monocytogenes to determine the effects of CF3**TM on cecal colonization by L. monocytogenes. Increased concentrations of cecal propionic acid in chicks at 3 days of age were indicative of the establishment of the CF3**TM bacteria in the ceca of treated chicks. The average cecal concentration of propionic acid in control chicks in 4 trials was 3.53 +/- 1.4 umol/g of cecal contents, while cecal propionic acid levels in CF3**TM-treated chicks were significantly higher at 26.37 +/- 4.2 umol/g of cecal contents (P<0.001). Ceca from control chicks at 7 days after the oral challenge with L. monocytogenes contained an average (from 4 trials) of log 3.44 +/- 1.4 CFU/g of cecal content, while ceca from chicks given the prophylactic treatment with CF3**TM contained no detectable Listeria CFU. Enrichment of cecal contents for L. monocytogenes in two trials resulted in 100% of ceca from control chicks testing culture-positive for L. monocytogenes, while none of the ceca from CF3**TM-treated chicks were culture-positive for L. monocytogenes. The results indicated that prophylactic treatment of newly hatched chicks with CF3**TM significantly reduced cecal colonization by L. monocytogenes.