ARS | Publication request: In Ovo Gentamicin and Mucosal Starter Culture (Tm) to Control Salmonella in Broiler Production

Submitted to: Applied Poultry Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: June 2, 2001
Publication Date: N/A

Interpretive Summary: In order to control Salmonella in the processing plant it must be controlled at the farm. One effective means of helping to reduce the level of Salmonella which leaves the farm is to treat chicks with bacteria naturally found in the intestinal tract of healthy older chicken. This concept is called competitive exclusion(CE). For CE cultures to be most effective they should be applied immediately after chicks hatch. The published literature suggests that antibiotics given during vaccine injections may prevent the CE from working. In this study, we demonstrated that giving the commonly used antibiotic gentamicin to chicks prior to giving the CE culture MSC did not reduce the effectiveness of the CE culture and that chicks continued to be substantially protected from Salmonella.

Technical Abstract: Salmonella continues to be the primary bacterial food safety focus of the U.S. poultry industry. HACCP regulations require that Salmonella on processed broilers be less than 24% and this level may be reduced in the future. In order to consistently be below these levels of Salmonella, it is important to control the introduction and proliferation of Salmonella on the farm. One of the most effective methods for controlling Salmonella is to treat young chicks with Competitive Exclusion (CE) cultures. The literature suggests that in ovo administration of gentamicin and other antibiotics may reduce the effectiveness of CE. The current study demonstrates conclusively that at the commercial rate of 0.4mg of gentamicin per egg administered in ovo on day 18 had no adverse effect on the CE product MSC. There also appeared to be a cumulative effect of the gentamicin and the MSC on reduction of Salmonella which gets into the chick on the day of hatch.