Effect of Feed Form and Whole Grain Feeding on Gastrointestinal Weight and the Prevalence of Campylobacter jejuni in Broilers Orally Infected

Abstract

Two independent trials were carried out to evaluate the effect of feed form, whole wheat (WW) and oat hulls (OH) addition on gastrointestinal (GIT) weight and Campylobacter jejuni colonization in orally infected birds. In Trial 1, there were six treatments factorially arranged with two feed forms (mash vs pellets), and three levels of WW from 1-21/22-42d: 0/0, 7.5/15%, 15/30%. Broilers were allocated in cages (3 birds/cage, 12 cages/treatment). In Trial 2, there were three treatments: a mash diet, a mash diet including WW (7.5% from 1–21 and 15% from 22-42d), and a third treatment including also 5%OH. Broilers were allocated in floor pens (1 pen with 30 birds/treatment). At 14d, all broilers in Trial 1 or 3 broilers/pen in Trial 2 were orally challenged with 1.5 x 105 cfu of C. jejuni ST-45 /. In Trial 1, birds fed pelleted diets consumed 13.5% more feed, gained 31% more weight, and presented 12.9% better feed conversion for the whole trial (P<0.05). Pelleting decreased the relative weight of GIT and gizzard and increased the relative weight of proventriculus (P<0.05). Mash diets decreased pH in the gizzard (P<0.05). Inclusion of WW decreased the relative weight of proventriculus, increased gizzard weight, and reduced pH in the gizzard (P<0.05). At 21d of age, mash tended to reduce C. jejuni compared to pellets (7.85 vs 8.27 log10cfu/g; P = 0.091) and WW inclusion at 7.5/15% reduced C. jejuni colonization when compared to lower and higher inclusion (P<0.05). In Trial 2, birds fed T3 (WW+OH) showed 1.38 log10cfu/g less than birds fed Control diet (P<0.05). In conclusion, despite of the clear morphological changes in the GIT derived of FF and WW inclusion, no clear reductions in C. jejuni populations in the ceca were observed. However, WW and OH inclusion to mash diets significantly reduced cecal C. jejuni colonization at 42 days.

Effect of Dietary Supplementation with Coarse or Extruded Oat Hulls on Growth Performance, Blood Biochemical Parameters, Ceca Microbiota and Short Chain Fatty Acids in Broiler Chickens

“…Our previous study [ 8 ] showed that inclusion of 3% fine particle-sized OH has the potential to enhance growth performance and carcass weight of broiler chickens while OH fed as free-choice did not. Gracia et al [ 9 ] reported reduced cecal Campylobacter jejuni colonization when 5% OH was fed to broiler chickens in mash form compared to those fed in pelleted form. Hetland and Svihus [ 10 ] reported a faster feed passage with the inclusion of coarsely ground OH, but no effect of finely ground OH was found.…”

Quantitative trait loci and transcriptome signatures associated with avian heritable resistance to Campylobacter

“…Moreover, there are differences in gene expression and responsiveness to bacterial lipopolysaccharide between macrophages from males and females that have been attributed to the lack of dosage compensation of the genes on the Z chromosome, which includes the interferon cluster 41 . Apart from seasonality and sex, other non-genetic factors may explain the observed variation in Campylobacter colonisation, including strain variation 42 , the time and level of exposure relative to sampling 43 , coinfections 44 , variation in the gut microbiota 45,46 , and diet and feed intake 47,48 . Our results should be interpreted in the context of the limitations and advantages of field-based genome-wide association studies 49,50 .…”

Mitigating the Spread and Translocation of Salmonella Enteritidis in Experimentally Infected Broilers under the Influence of Different Flooring Housing Systems and Feed Particle Sizes

“…Previous data implied that offering a coarsely ground diet may hinder Salmonella proliferation [ 23 , 24 ]. Other research discussed the beneficial effect of whole wheat on other bacteria such as Clostridium perfringens [ 46 ] and Campylobacter jejuni [ 26 , 47 ] in broiler flocks. This could be explained on the basis that broilers fed a coarse ground diet showed better gizzard development than those animals fed a finely ground diet [ 23 , 34 , 48 ].…”

“…Gracia et al [ 26 ] found that mash diets containing whole wheat and oat hull diet significantly reduced the caecal colonization of chickens with Campylobacter jejuni . Abadi et al [ 27 ] reported that feeding broilers on pellet coarse diets led to significantly lower caecal Clostridium counts.…”