Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Physiol.
Sec. Avian Physiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1511380

A Comparative Evaluation of Antibiotic and Synbiotic Supplementation on Production Performance and Necrotic Enteritis Severity in Broilers during an Experimental Necrotic Enteritis Challenge

Provisionally accepted
Bikas Raj Shah Bikas Raj Shah 1Walid Ghazi Al Hakeem Walid Ghazi Al Hakeem 1Revathi Shanmugasundaram Revathi Shanmugasundaram 2Ramesh K Selvaraj Ramesh K Selvaraj 1*
  • 1 University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States
  • 2 Toxicology and Mycotoxin Research Unit, U.S. National Poultry Research Center, Agricultural Research Service (USDA), Athens, Georgia, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    A 35-day study was conducted to compare the efficacy of synbiotic (PoultryStar®ME) and antibiotic (Stafac®50, Virginiamycin) supplementation during an experimentally induced necrotic enteritis (NE) infection. A total of 360 day-old chicks were randomly assigned to four treatment groups: Antibiotic, Challenge + Antibiotic, Synbiotic, and Challenge + Synbiotic, each with 6 replicates. The treatment groups referred as "antibiotic + challenge" and "synbiotic + challenge" were challenged, while their respective non-challenged treatment groups were "antibiotic" and "synbiotic". NE in birds was induced by gavaging 1 x 104 oocysts of Eimeria maxima on day 14 (D14) and 1 x 108 CFU/mL of Clostridium perfringens on D19, 20, and 21. Both synbiotic and antibiotic supplementation during the NE challenge did not improve BW gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio at the end of the experiment (D0-35). However, antibiotic supplementation reduced mortality during the week of the challenge (D14-21) (P<0.001). At D21, both synbiotic and antibiotic supplementation during the NE challenge did not decrease the intestinal lesion score (P<0.001) compared to their respective non-challenged treatment groups. At D21, synbiotic supplementation during the NE challenge did not decrease intestinal permeability (P=0.04) compared to the synbiotic group. At D21, antibiotic supplementation during the NE challenge increased the CD4+:CD8+ T cells (P<0.001) in the cecal tonsil. It can be concluded that synbiotic supplementation elicited an immune response, decreasing the inflammatory response in the intestine and ameliorating the NE infection. Therefore, synbiotic could be a potential alternative to replace antibiotics in the poultry industry, but their efficacy needs to be improved through blending additional probiotics and prebiotics, and further exploration is required.

    Keywords: AGP, antibiotic, immune response, necrotic enteritis, performance, Synbiotic

    Received: 14 Oct 2024; Accepted: 12 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Shah, Al Hakeem, Shanmugasundaram and Selvaraj. 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: Ramesh K Selvaraj, University of Georgia, Athens, 30602, Georgia, United States

    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.