Dietary encapsulated essential oils and organic acids mixture improves gut health in broiler chickens challenged with necrotic enteritis

Abstract

Background: The poultry industry is in need of effective antibiotic alternatives to control outbreaks of necrotic enteritis (NE) due to Clostridium perfringens. In the present study, we investigated the effects of dietary supplementation with a blend of encapsulated essential oils and organic acids (BLJ) on growth performance and gut health using a coinfection model of NE in broiler chickens. Methods: Two hundred and eighty-eight one-day-old male Arbor Acres broiler chicks were randomly assigned using a 2 × 2 factorial design into two groups fed either 0 or 500 mg/kg dietary BLJ and co-challenged (or not challenged for the control) with Eimeria spp./C. perfringens. Results: Infected birds fed the BLJ-supplemented diet exhibited an improved feed conversion ratio throughout the trial (P < 0.01), a higher villus height and villus height/crypt depth ratio, and reduced intestinal C. perfringens counts, liver C. perfringens carriage, gut lesion scores and serum fluorescein isothiocyanate dextran (FITC-D) concentrations at 7 d postinfection compared with those of birds without BLJ supplementation (P < 0.05). NE-infected birds fed BLJ exhibited significantly upregulated claudin-1 and IGF-2 mRNA levels (P < 0.05), increased A20 mRNA expression and significantly downregulated TRAF-6, TNFSF15 and TOLLIP mRNA levels in the jejunum at 7 d post-infection compared with those in birds without BLJ supplementation (P < 0.05). Compared with the uninfected and untreated birds, the uninfected birds fed BLJ displayed increased relative abundances of Lactobacillus and Coprococcus but reduced Rikenellaceae levels. Compared with the unsupplemented NE-challenged birds, infected birds fed BLJ showed an increased relative abundance of Unclassified_ Lachnospiraceae and a significantly decreased relative abundance of Erysipelotrichaceae. Conclusion: BLJ supplementation improved growth performance and gut health in NE-infected broiler chickens by strengthening the intestinal barrier function, positively modulating the gut microbiota community and differentially regulating intestinal immune responses. Our results also suggested that adding BLJ effectively controlled NE infections after experimental Eimeria and Clostridium perfringens coinfection.

The biological effects of microencapsulated organic acids and botanicals induces tissue-specific and dose-dependent changes to the&nbsp;Gallus gallus&nbsp;microbiota

“…There are numerous studies by our laboratory and others highlighting the bene t of using encapsulated ingredients for targeted release in the poultry GIT [10,21,27,[29][30][31][32][33][34]. In a previous study, the blend of organic acids and botanicals evaluated herein enhanced gut immune and barrier function in the ileum and jejunum of weaned pigs [32].…”

“…Similarly, supplementation with eugenol, an essential oil, increased members of the Clostridiales order in mice that proved protective against pathogenic challenge [46]. There are a number of studies employing supplementation with natural products including organic acids and phytochemicals that show improvements to intestinal integrity as well as protecting against the pathology and loss of performance associated with necrotic enteritis in broilers [10,24,34,47]. Future challenge trials will be conducted to determine if the blend of organic acids and botanicals used herein confers protective effects against Clostridium perfringens and necrotic enteritis.…”

The biological effects of microencapsulated organic acids and botanicals induces tissue-specific and dose-dependent changes to the Gallus gallus microbiota

“…There are numerous studies by our laboratory and others highlighting the bene t of using encapsulated ingredients for targeted release in the poultry GIT [10,21,27,[30][31][32][33][34][35]. In a previous study, the blend of organic acids and botanicals evaluated herein enhanced gut immune and barrier function in the ileum and jejunum of weaned pigs [33].…”

“…Similarly, supplementation with eugenol, an essential oil, increased members of the Clostridiales order in mice that proved protective against pathogenic challenge [49]. There are a number of studies employing supplementation with natural products including organic acids and phytochemicals that show improvements to intestinal integrity as well as protecting against the pathology and loss of performance associated with necrotic enteritis in broilers [10,24,35,50]. Future challenge trials will be conducted to determine if the blend of organic acids and botanicals used herein confers protective effects against Clostridium perfringens-induced necrotic enteritis and what role the GIT microbial populations play in determining disease outcome.…”

Effects Of Orally Administered Recombinant Lactobacillus Casei Expressing HN Protein On Early Growth Performance, Intestinal Health And Protection Against NDV Challenge In Chickens

“…[22], Lactobacillus spp. [23], E.coli [24] or universal bacteria [25], and 2 ng of bacterial DNA template. Table 1 lists the forward and reverse primer sequences.…”