Oral supplementation with MC018 improves intestinal health, immune response, and growth performance of Zi geese infected with XH197291.

INTRODUCTION

infection causes severe diarrhea, decreases growth performance, and increases mortality of poultry, which imposes a significant economic burden on the poultry industry and severely limits its growth.

METHODS

Here, to investigate the effects of on the intestinal health, immune response, and growth performance of -infected goslings, we established a geese model infected with an gene-carrying strain and analyzed the probiotic characteristics of three isolates obtained from the cecum of healthy geese. In an study, Zi geese were administered daily gavage of MC006, MC013, or MC018 (10 CFU/mL) from 1 d of age for 21 d, followed by treatment with XH197291 gavage (10 CFU/mL) on day 8.

RESULTS

The results showed that XH197291-infected geese exhibited depression, intestinal damage, reduced average daily gain, increased feed conversion ratio, and 100% diarrhea incidence within 48 h post-infection. Remarkably, among the three isolates, MC018 showed the potential to function as a probiotic because of its ability to resist acid and bile degradation, antibacterial effect, and adhesion property. Notably, oral supplementation containing MC018 alleviated diarrhea and intestinal histological lesions, reduced counts in both ileum and rectum, increased the population of lactic acid bacteria, and improved the growth performance of -infected geese. Geese treated with MC018 gavage had higher serum diamine oxidase ( < 0.01) and IgM ( < 0.05) levels than those in the model group. MC018 reduced the levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF- in intestinal tissues following infection. Compared to MC013, MC018 increased the levels of ZO-1 in the duodenum and Claudin-1 in the ileum.

DISCUSSION

These findings suggest that MC018 is a promising probiotic strain for use as a potential alternative to antibiotics for controlling avian colibacillosis.