ARS | Publication request: INTERMITTENT ADMINISTRATION OF A PROBIOTIC CULTURE AND A MIXTURE OF ORGANIC ACIDS MAY REDUCE SALMONELLA ENTERITIDIS TRANSMISSION IN CHICKS

Submitted to: Southern Poultry Science Society Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: December 10, 2003
Publication Date: September 29, 2004
Citation: Jarquin, R.L., Nava, G.M., Vincente, J.S., Wolfenden, A.D., Sartor, C.D., Higgins, S.E., Tellez, G.I., Donoghue, D.J., Donoghue, A.M., Hargis, B.M. 2004. Intermittent administration of a probiotic culture and a mixture of organic acids may reduce salmonella enteritidis transmission in chicks[abstract]. Poultry Science. 83(Suppl 1):1771.

Technical Abstract: Recently, we have explored the possible inhibitory effect of organic acids on microbial growth within the chicken gastrointestinal tract. The objective of this study was to combine and evaluate a defined probiotic culture and an organic acid mixture on Salmonella colonization in chicks. In three replicate experiments an organic acid mixture (OAM) (tannic , lactic, butyric, acetic, .024%, .048%, .048% and .048% final concentration, respectively) administered in the drinking water was alternated with a nine-bacteria probiotic culture (BB) and evaluated for ability to prevent Salmonella enteritidis (SE) colonization in neonatal broiler chicks. Day-of-hatch chicks were randomly divided into eight pens (n=40/pen). In an additional pen containing 80 chicks, all birds were individually tagged for identification and then orally challenged with SE (10^5) to serve as seeders. Treatments consisted of Controls, OAM alone, BB alone (1 x 10^6 cfu/ml final concentration) or OAM and BB provided on an alternating daily basis (2 pens/treatment). On day 2, 10 seeders were placed into each of the eight pens. Treatments were continued until day 8. On day 10 and 20 (experiment 2 and 3 only) half of the chicks from each pen and the seeders were humanly killed and the cecal tonsils were aseptically collected for enrichment culture for SE. In exp. 1 on Day 10, only the OAM and BB combined treatment resulted in a lower incidence (70%) of SE (p<. 05) compared to Control (95% incidence). In exp. 2 , a significant reduction of SE colonization was observed for all treatment groups compared to control (Control 95%, 75%, OAM alone 35%, 10%, BB alone 55%, 25% and 75%15% for the OAM-BB combination, days 10 and 20 respectively). In exp.3 on day 10, SE incidence was lower (p<. 05) in the OAM group (20%) and the OAM-BB group (42.5%) compared to the control group (72.5%). On day 20, a significant reduction in SE was observed only in the OAM group (47.5%) compared to control (62.5%). These observations show that the combined administration of beneficial bacteria and OAM might be efficacious to prevent SE intestinal colonization however, our results varied considerable in efficacy across experiments.