Effects of Bacillus coagulans supplementation on the growth performance and gut health of broiler chickens with Clostridium perfringens-induced necrotic enteritis

Yuanyuan Wu; Yujing Shao; Bochen Song; Wenrui Zhen; Zhong Wang; Yuming Guo; Muhammad Suhaib Shahid; Wei Nie

doi:10.1186/s40104-017-0220-2

Effects of Bacillus coagulans supplementation on the growth performance and gut health of broiler chickens with Clostridium perfringens-induced necrotic enteritis

J Anim Sci Biotechnol. 2018 Jan 25:9:9. doi: 10.1186/s40104-017-0220-2. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Yuanyuan Wu¹, Yujing Shao², Bochen Song¹, Wenrui Zhen¹, Zhong Wang¹, Yuming Guo¹, Muhammad Suhaib Shahid¹, Wei Nie¹

Affiliations

¹ 1State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
² 2College of Biology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Background: The poultry industry is in need of effective antibiotic alternatives to control outbreaks of necrotic enteritis (NE) due to Clostridium perfringens.

Methods: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding Bacillus coagulans on the growth performance and gut health of broiler chickens with C. perfringens-induced NE. Two hundred and forty 1-day-old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with two dietary B. coagulans levels (0 or 4 × 10⁹ CFU/kg of diet) and two disease challenge statuses (control or NE challenged).

Results: NE-induced reduction in body weight gain was relieved by the addition of B. coagulans into broiler diets compared with the NE-infected birds. NE infection damaged intestinal morphological structure, promoted intestinal C. perfringens growth and liver invasion, and enhanced anti-C. perfringens specific sIgA concentrations in the gut and specific IgG levels in serum compared with the uninfected birds. NE infection significantly (P < 0.05) decreased mucin-2 (at 14 d post-infection (DPI), toll -like receptor 2 (TLR2, at 7 and 14 DPI), TLR4 (at 7 and 14 DPI), tumor necrosis factor super family 15 (TNFSF15, at 7 and 14 DPI), lysozyme (LYZ, at 14 DPI) and fowlicidin-2 (at 7 and 14 DPI) mRNA levels, whereas it dramatically (P = 0.001) increased IFN-γ mRNA levels at 7 DPI. However, challenged birds fed diets supplemented with B. coagulans showed a significant (P < 0.01) decrease in gut lesion scores, decreased C. perfringens numbers in the cecum and liver, and an increase in fowlicidin-2 mRNA levels in compared with the uninfected birds. In addition, compared with the non-supplemented group, dietary inclusion of B. coagulans improved intestinal barrier structure, further increased specific sIgA levels and alkaline phosphatase (IAP) activity in the jejunum, enhanced the expression of jejunum lysozyme mRNA, and inhibited the growth, colonization, and invasion of C. perfringens; in contrast, it reduced serum-specific IgG concentrations and jejunum IFN-γ mRNA levels.

Conclusion: These results indicated that dietary B. coagulans supplementation appeared to be effective in preventing the occurrence and reducing the severity of C. perfringens-induced NE in broiler chickens.

Keywords: Bacillus coagulans; Broiler chickens; Clostridium perfringens; Gut health.