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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fayetteville, Arkansas » Poultry Production and Product Safety Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #182481
Title: LIMITED TREATMENT WITH ß-1,3/1,6-GLUCAN IMPROVES PRODUCTION VALUES OF BROILER CHICKENS CHALLENGED WITH ESCHERICHIA COLI

Author
item Huff, Geraldine
item Huff, William
item Rath, Narayan
item TELLEZ, G. - UNIV OF ARKANSAS

Submitted to: Poultry Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/2/2005
Publication Date: 4/1/2006
Citation: Huff, G.R., Huff, W.E., Rath, N.C., Tellez, G. 2006. Limited treatment with ß-1,3/1,6-glucan improves production values of broiler chickens challenged with Escherichia coli. Poultry Science. 85:613-618.

Interpretive Summary: The development of antibiotic resistant bacteria has led to a need for alternatives to antibiotics for both growth promotion and disease prevention in poultry production. Immustim® is a feed grade compound derived from the cell wall of baker’s yeast which can cause changes in the immune system’s response to infection. The objective of this study was to determine the ability of two Immustim® supplementation programs to protect broiler chicks from an experimental respiratory challenge with E. coli. Chicks were housed in battery-brooders from day of age and fed a standard starter diet or the same diet containing 20 g/ton of Immustim® either continuously (BG25d) or for only the first 7 days prior to challenge (BG7d). At day 7, half of the birds were given a respiratory challenge with E. coli. All surviving birds were sacrificed at day 25. Body weight of survivors and feed conversion efficiency were protected from the adverse effects of E. coli challenge by BG7d but not by BG25d. Mortality was decreased from 63% (Control) to 53% in BG25d and 47% in BG7d, but these decreases were not significant. The weights of the liver, heart, and bursa of Fabricius were protected from the effects of the E. coli challenge only by BG7d. Despite positive effects of BG7d in E. coli challenged birds, the body weights of non-challenged birds were decreased by both BG25d and BG7d . These results suggest that adding Immustim® to broiler diets may help decrease production losses due to E. coli respiratory disease, but that the immune stimulation may be costly in decreased production values for birds raised in a clean environment with minimal disease challenges.

Technical Abstract: The development of antibiotic resistant bacteria has led to a need for alternatives to antibiotics for both growth promotion and disease prevention in poultry production. Immustim®, a feed grade beta-1,3/1,6-glucan, is a helical polysaccharide derived from the cell wall of Saccharomyces cervisiae which has immunomodulating activities. The objective of this study was to determine the ability of two Immustim® supplementation programs to protect broiler chicks from an experimental respiratory challenge with E. coli. Chicks were housed in battery-brooders from day of age and fed a standard starter diet or the same diet containing 20 g/ton of Immustim® either continuously (BG25d) or for only the first 7 days prior to challenge (BG7d). At day 7, half of the birds were inoculated in the thoracic air sac with 800 cfu of a serotype O2, non-motile strain of E. coli. All surviving birds were necropsied at day 25. Body weight of survivors (P=0.01), and feed conversion efficiency (P=0.002) were protected from the adverse effects of E. coli challenge by BG7d but not by BG25d. Mortality was decreased from 63% (Control) to 53% in BG25d and 47% in BG7d, but these decreases were not significant. The relative weights of the liver (P=0.0009), heart (P=0.057), and bursa of Fabricius (P=0.02) were protected from the effects of the E. coli challenge only by BG7d. Despite positive effects of BG7d in E. coli challenged birds, BW of non-challenged birds were decreased by both BG25d (P=0.04) and BG7d (P=0.03). These results suggest that supplementation of broiler diets with Immustim® may be valuable for decreasing production losses due to E. coli respiratory disease, but that the immune stimulation may be costly in decreased production values for birds raised in an environment with minimal disease challenges.