Effect of the antibiotic avilamycin on the structure of the microbial community in the jejunal intestinal tract of broiler chickens

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine whether avilamycin, which is used as a growth promoter in broiler chickens, would affect the structure of the bacterial community within the jejunal intestinal tract. Sixty chickens were assigned to 2 groups: a control group and an avilamycin-treated group. The jejunal tissue from 4 chicks randomly sampled on d 1, 3, 7, 21, and 42 from each treatment group were investigated for changes in villus height, total mesophilic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, and the structure of the microbial community using PCR-denaturant gradient gel electrophoresis. Supplementation with avilamycin had no effect on villus height and total bacterial count in either the mesophile or lactic acid bacteria. Based on PCR-denaturant gradient gel electrophoresis analysis, 3 bacterial groups were identified in both groups of chicks: gram-positive bacteria having low contents of guanine and cytosine, gamma proteobacteria, and actinobacteria. The abundance of Weisella, Enterococcus faecium, and Pediococcus acidophilus found only in the control group indicated that avilamycin did affect their growth and led to low microbial diversity among the low guanine and cytosine group compared with the control group. In contrast, however, avilamycin treatment was associated with higher microbial diversity among the gamma proteobacteria group in respect of the various Pseudomonas species. This finding should increase awareness of the potential effects of antibiotic use and particularly avilamycin in commercial poultry production in tropical areas.

Diet supplementation with an organic acids-based formulation affects gut microbiota and expression of gut barrier genes in broilers

“…On the other hand, avilamycin reduced ileal digesta C. perfringens counts. Moreover, avilamycin is known to display bactericidal activity against Gram-positive bacteria ( La-ongkhum et al., 2011 ) such as C. perfringens ( Knarreborg et al., 2002 , Van Immerseel et al., 2004 ) and therefore its inclusion as a positive control in this study could explain the reduced ileal digesta counts of C. perfringens . Generally, organic acids have been shown to possess antimicrobial properties ( Van Immerseel et al., 2006 , Mani-Lopez et al., 2012 ) that may affect ileal lactic acid bacteria and E. coli ( Pirgozliev et al., 2008 , Nava et al., 2009 , Hashemi et al., 2012 , Sun et al., 2013 ) and this could partly explain the reduction in the overall population of ileal mucosa-associated bacteria in this study.…”

Host and Environmental Factors Affecting the Intestinal Microbiota in Chickens

“…These results reinforce that the sex of a chicken might be a confounding factor. Many broiler and microbiota studies contain only data from males ( Dumonceaux et al, 2006 ; Burkholder et al, 2008 ; Guardia et al, 2011 ; Hasan and Adem, 2011 ; La-Ongkhum et al, 2011 ; Stanley et al, 2012a ; Akbarian et al, 2014 ; Goodarzi Boroojeni et al, 2014 ; Huff et al, 2015 ; Ruiz et al, 2015 ) or the sex of the broilers is unknown ( Stanley et al, 2012b ; Corrigan et al, 2015 ; Oakley and Kogut, 2016 ). This sex bias in literature might influence our understanding of the microbiota development in chickens and therefore the sex of the chicken should always be reported.…”

The occurrence of Salmonella, extended‐spectrum β‐lactamase producing Escherichia coli and carbapenem resistant non‐fermenting Gram‐negative bacteria in a backyard poultry flock environment

“…P. koreensis is a relatively newly discovered species and has been isolated from chicken house water delivery system and chicken meat (Hatew et al, 2011). Similarly, P. putida has been isolated from variety of chicken sources including intestinal content of antibiotic-treated chickens (La-ongkhum, Pungsungvorn, Amornthewaphat, & Nitisinprasert, 2011), carcasses washed with chlorinated water, and poultry equipment or other environmental surfaces within poultry processing plants (Geornaras, Kunene, von Holy, & Hastings, 1999;Hinton, Northcutt, Smith, Musgrove, & Ingram, 2007). Moreover, P. putida is known to penetrate and grow inside the chicken eggs (Berrang, Cox, Frank, & Buhr, 1999;Sabarinath et al, 2009).…”