Comparison of effects of chicken cecal microorganisms maintained in continuous culture and provision of dietary lactose on cecal colonization by Salmonella typhimurium in turkey poults and broiler chicks.

A mixed bacterial culture derived from the cecal contents of an adult broiler chicken was maintained in continuous-flow culture and tested for effectiveness in Salmonella colonization reduction in broiler chicks and turkey poults. Day-old chicks and poults in two separate experiments were divided into four groups and provided a standard corn-soybean diet with: 1) no culture, no lactose (control); 2) 5% dietary lactose; 3) broth culture by crop gavage; 4) culture by crop gavage and 5% lactose. All groups were challenged orally on Day 3 with 10(4) Salmonella typhimurium. At 10 and 21 d of age the chicks provided culture and lactose had significantly (P < .05) fewer Salmonella per gram of cecal contents than controls. Poults provided culture by gavage and lactose also had significantly (P < .05) fewer Salmonella per gram of cecal contents than control poults, but the number was 100- to 1,000-fold higher than that of the chicks provided the same treatment. The percentage of Salmonella cecal-culture-positive chicks provided culture and lactose was significantly reduced at 10 and 21 d of age in both experiments compared with controls, but the percentage of cecal-culture-positive poults was significantly different from controls only at 21 d in one of the two experiments. Chicks provided culture and lactose had significantly fewer Salmonella colony-forming units per gram and significantly fewer cecal-culture-positive birds than poults provided culture and lactose in both experiments. The results indicate that cultures of cecal bacteria that effectively reduce Salmonella colonization in broiler chicks may not be as effective for reduction of Salmonella colonization in turkey poults.