Enteritidis reduction in layer ceca with a probiotic.

BACKGROUND AND AIM

Enteritidis (SE) is a significant foodborne pathogen that can often be traced to poultry and poultry products. This study aims to evaluate the ability of three commonly used non-antimicrobial feed additives in reducing the amount of SE in the ceca of laying type pullets.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

On day 0, 60 Hy-Line Brown pullets aged 9 weeks were allocated to individual cages in 15 replicate blocks of four pens. Pullets were administered a mash feed provided without supplementation (control) or with dietary supplementation of 454 g/ton yeast cell wall (YCW), or 454 g/ton spp. probiotic, or 1133 g/ton yeast culture (YC). On day 3 of the trial, all birds were orally administered 3×10 CFU of a nalidixic acid-resistant SE. On day 10, 7 days after inoculation, all birds were humanely euthanized, and the ceca were aseptically removed for analysis.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference in the prevalence of SE among treatments. The mean quantity of SE detected in the ceca expressed in log most probable number/g was 2.52 in the control, 2.49 in the YCW treatment, 1.73 in the probiotic treatment, and 1.66 in the YC treatment. The reduction between control and probiotic and control and YC was significant (p=0.021).

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrates the ability of the novel probiotic and the YC to reduce the load of SE in layer ceca.