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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Microbes
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1537724
This article is part of the Research Topic Efficacy of probiotic-enriched foods on digestive health and overall well-being View all 7 articles
Effects of dietary supplementation with Bacillus subtilis and bacteriophage on growth performance, intestinal morphology and microbiota structure in 0-90 d MaGang geese
Provisionally accepted
Chenyu Zhu Yongquan Luo Kunjie Xu Yong Li Yuanhao Han Zhiyuan Liu 
Xiujin Li Danning Xu Yunbo Tian 
Yunmao Huang Zhongping Wu *
Xumeng Zhang *- Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, China
The expansion of large-scale goose farming under semi-arid conditions has exacerbated bathing pool pollution, adversely affecting goose growth performance and intestinal health. Given the crucial role of gut microbiota in maintaining intestinal homeostasis, and considering the reported beneficial effects of bacteriophages and Bacillus subtilis on gut health, this study investigated their combined application in goose production. A 90-day trial was conducted with 288 Magang goslings randomly allocated to four treatment groups: control (A), Bacillus subtilis (5×10⁵ CFU/kg; B), bacteriophage (5×10⁷ PFU/kg; C), and combined supplementation (D). The supplementation significantly enhanced body weight (P < 0.05) and feed efficiency without affecting feed intake. Notably, the combined treatment demonstrated synergistic effects in reducing serum and aquatic endotoxin levels while suppressing pathogenic bacteria (E. coli and Salmonella) in water systems. Intestinal morphology improvements included increased villus height and optimized villus-to-crypt ratios, accompanied by up-regulated expression of tight junction genes (Zo-1 and Ocln). Cecal microbiota analysis revealed enhanced alpha diversity and a shift toward Bacteroides-dominant communities, with concurrent suppression of Proteobacteria. Immune modulation exhibited a biphasic response, characterized by early anti-inflammatory (Tnf-α) and late-phase antioxidant (Ho-1) activities. Microbial-environmental correlation analysis identified Firmicutes and Desulfobacterota as growth-promoting but barrier-compromising taxa, while Bacteroidota was associated with improved gut integrity. These findings demonstrate that combined Bacillus subtilis and bacteriophage supplementation during brooding and rearing stages optimizes growth performance through gut-microbiota-immune interactions, providing an effective antibiotic-free strategy for sustainable poultry production.
Keywords: goose, Bacillus subtilis, Bacteriophages, growth performance, gut health
Received: 01 Dec 2024; Accepted: 18 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhu, Luo, Xu, Li, Han, Liu, Li, Xu, Tian, Huang, Wu and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zhongping Wu, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, China
Xumeng Zhang, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.