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The aim of this work was to assess the effect of dietary viable or heat inactivated probiotic forms (PF) combined or not with avilamycin (AV) used as a growth promoter, on broiler growth performance, nutrient digestibility, digestive enzyme activities, and expression of immune response related genes.Depending on the type of PF (i.e., no addition, viable, inactivated) and AV addition (no/yes), 450 one-day-old Cobb male broilers were allocated in the following 6 treatments according to a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement with 5 replicates of 15 broilers each for 6 wk: CoN: diet without any addition; CoN+A: combination of CoN with AV; ViP: viable PF - no AV; ViP+A: combination of ViP with AV; InP: inactivated PF - no AV; InP+A: combination of InP with AV.There were no interactions (P > 0.05) for overall performance parameters. In contrast, PF or AV addition improved BW gain (PPF= 0.015; PAV

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary probiotic inclusion level on mucin composition (monosaccharide ratio), mucosal morphometry, mucus layer staining intensity, and mucus layer thickness along the broiler intestinal tract. One-day-old male Cobb broilers were administered maize-soybean meal basal (BD) diets for 42 d and depending on the feed additive used, broilers were allocated into the following 5 experimental treatments: control C (BD, no additive), treatment P1 (10(8) colony forming units of probiotic/kg of BD), treatment P2 (10(9) cfu of probiotic/kg of BD), treatment P3 (10(10) cfu of probiotic/kg of BD), and treatment A (2.5 mg avilamycin/kg of BD). Intestinal samples from duodenum, ileum, and cecum of 14- and 42-d-old broilers were collected and analyzed. Mannose (Man) decreased linearly with increasing probiotic level in duodenum (P=0.015) and ileum (P=0.042) of 14-d-old broilers. N-Acetyl-glucosamine and galactose decreased linearly (P=0.012 and P=0.001, respectively), while fucose increased linearly (P

The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of inclusion levels of a 5-bacterial species probiotic in broiler nutrition. Five hundred twenty-five 1-d-old male Cobb broilers were allocated in 5 experimental treatments for 6 wk. The experimental treatments received a corn-soybean coccidiostat-free basal diet and depending on the addition were labeled as follows: no addition (C), 10(8) cfu probiotic/kg of diet (P1), 10(9) cfu probiotic/kg of diet (P2), 10(10) cfu probiotic/kg of diet (P3), and 2.5 mg of avilamycin/kg of diet (A). Each treatment had 3 replicates of 35 broilers each. Treatment effects on broiler growth performance and biomarkers such as ileal and total tract nutrient digestibility, plasma Ig concentration, and cecal microflora composition were determined. Differences among treatments were considered significant when P < or = 0.05. Overall BW gain was significantly higher in treatment P1 (2,293 g) compared with P2 (2,163 g), C (2,165 g), and P3 (2,167 g), with A (2,230 g) being intermediate and not different from P1. Overall feed conversion ratio values were similar and significantly better for P1 (1.80) and A (1.80) compared with P2 (1.87), C (1.89), and P3 (1.92). Ileal apparent digestibility coefficients (ADC) of CP and ether extract were higher in A. Generally, treatments A and P1 showed an improved total tract ADC for DM, organic matter, ash, ether extract, and AME(n) values. The total tract ADC of CP was higher in P1, C, and P2. There were no differences between treatments regarding plasma Ig in 14- and 42-d-old broilers. Treatments P2 and P3 were effective at beneficially modulating cecal microflora composition. In particular, the lower cecal coliform concentration (log cfu/g of wet digesta) was seen in P2 (6.12) and P3 (4.90) in 14- and 42-d-old broilers, respectively, whereas at 42 d, P3 and P2 had the highest Bifidobacterium (8.31; 8.08) and Lactobacillus concentrations (8.20; 7.86), respectively. It is concluded that probiotic inclusion level had a significant effect on broiler growth responses, nutrient ADC, AME(n), and cecal microflora composition.

The dietary supplementation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii was evaluated in broilers challenged or not challenged with Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) using a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement. Depending on yeast inclusion at 0 (C) or 1 × 10⁹ cfu/kg diet (Y) and SE challenge (0 or log 6.3 cfu/bird) on d 15, the experiment had four treatments C, Y, C-SE, and Y-SE, respectively. Each treatment had seven replicate floor pens with 15 broilers. Growth performance responses were determined weekly and overall for the 5 week experimental period. Salmonella levels and prevalence in ceca, cloacae, and carcass skin were determined by culture procedures, while cecal microbiota was determined by real time PCR. Yeast supplementation had no effect (PY0.05) on growth performance. For the overall post SE-challenge period (i.e., wk 3 to wk 5), Salmonella reduced body weight gain (BWG) (PSE0.001), feed intake (FI) (PSE = 0.032), and the European production efficiency (EPEF) factor (PSE = 0.005). Broilers Y-SE had higher (P0.001) overall BW gain compared to C-SE ones. Overall mortality was 2.14% and did not differ (P0.05) between treatments. Reduced Salmonella levels in the cloacae (P = 0.014) and on the breast skin (P = 0.006) and lower prevalence on the neck skin (P = 0.007) were noted for treatment Y-SE compared to C-SE. Yeast supplementation did not have an effect (P0.05) on cecal microbiota composition at d 1 and d 21 post SE-challenge. On the contrary, SE-challenge reduced cecal levels of total bacteria (PSE = 0.002), E. coli (PSE = 0.006), Bifidobacterium spp. (PSE = 0.006), Bacteroides spp. (PSE = 0.010), and Clostridial populations belonging to cluster I and cluster XIVa, (PSE = 0.047 and PSE = 0.001, respectively) on d 1 post SE-challenge. At 21 d post SE-challenge, only the levels of cecal Lactobacillus spp. (PSE = 0.001) and Bifidobacterium spp. (PSE = 0.049) were reduced compared to the non SE-challenged groups. In conclusion, yeast supplementation in SE challenged broilers (Y-SE) was beneficial for growth performance and reduced Salmonella presence compared to C-SE ones. The disturbance of cecal microbiota balance by SE merits further investigation for potential implications in gut and overall bird health.