Carbohydrate-based cocktails that decrease the population of Salmonella and Campylobacter in the crop of broiler chickens subjected to feed withdrawal.

The efficacy of various carbohydrate-based cocktails in reducing the number of enteropathogens in the crops of broilers subjected to feed withdrawal was examined. Market-aged broilers that had been orally challenged with Salmonella typhimurium were provided the cocktails during a 12-h feed withdrawal. After feed withdrawal, the broilers were processed, and their crops were aseptically removed and weighed. Crops were then blended in distilled water, and the pH of the suspensions was measured electronically. Populations of S. typhimurium, Campylobacter, and lactic acid bacteria in the crop suspensions were enumerated. Findings indicated that significantly fewer S. typhimurium and Campylobacter were recovered from the crops of broilers that had been provided cocktails supplemented with sucrose than from the (Key words: crop, carbohydrate, feed crops of broilers provided cocktails supplemented with equal concentrations (wt/vol) of glucose. Furthermore, significantly fewer S. typhimurium were recovered from the crops of broilers provided cocktails supplemented with 2 to 10% sucrose than from the crops of broilers provided water or cocktails that were not supplemented with carbohydrates. The pH of the crop contents of broilers provided carbohydrate cocktails were lower than the pH of the crops of broilers provided water or cocktails that were not supplemented with carbohydrates. Consumption of the cocktails did not produce significant changes in the crop weights. Findings indicate that altering the composition of carbohydrate-based cocktails provided to broilers during feed withdrawal may affect the efficacy of cocktails in reducing the number of enteropathogens recovered from the crops of broilers.