The Impact of Probiotic Bacillus subtilis on Injurious Behavior in Laying Hens

Abstract

Intestinal microbiota functions such as an endocrine organ to regulate host physiological homeostasis and behavioral exhibition in stress responses via regulating the gut–brain axis in humans and other mammals. In humans, stress-induced dysbiosis of the gut microbiota leads to intestinal permeability, subsequently affecting the clinical course of neuropsychiatric disorders, increasing the frequency of aggression and related violent behaviors. Probiotics, as direct-fed microorganism, have been used as dietary supplements or functional foods to target gut microbiota (microbiome) for the prevention or therapeutic treatment of mental diseases including social stress-induced psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, impulsivity, and schizophrenia. Similar function of the probiotics may present in laying hens due to the intestinal microbiota having a similar function between avian and mammals. In laying hens, some management practices such as hens reared in conventional cages or at a high stocking density may cause stress, leading to injurious behaviors such as aggressive pecking, severe feather pecking, and cannibalism, which is a critical issue facing the poultry industry due to negative effects on hen health and welfare with devastating economic consequences. We discuss the current development of using probiotic Bacillus subtilis to prevent or reduce injurious behavior in laying hens.

Probiotic mediated intestinal microbiota and improved performance, egg quality and ovarian immune function of laying hens at different laying stage

“…It has a wide range of species, which are typically classified as Lactobacillus , Bifidobacterium and Gram-positive cocci, and yeast ( Saccharomyces ) genera ( Fijian, 2014 ), with health benefits, growth promotion, non-toxic side effects, and other characteristics. Probiotics supplementation in laying hen diets have been proven to improve hen’s performance parameters including egg production, feed conversion ratio and egg quality, disease resistance and animal welfare ( Smith, 2014 ; Villageliu and Lyte, 2017 ; Khan et al, 2020 ; Sjofjan et al, 2021 ; Bindari and Gerber, 2022 ; Jiang et al, 2022 ). For instance, Macit et al (2021) reported that supplementation of humate and probiotics into diets could improve the content of monounsaturated fatty acids in yolk, feed conversion ratio and yolk color.…”

Uso de probióticos y sus efectos en el bienestar de la gallina ponedora

“…Sabendo que as aves sob condições comerciais criadas em gaiolas ou em alta densidade podem apresentar comportamento anormal, como agressividade, bicagem e até canibalismo, resultante de estresse (Hedlund & Jensen, 2022;Jiang et al, 2022), a manutenção do equilíbrio da microbiota é crucial para a homeostase fisiológica e comportamental, saúde, bem-estar (Jiang et al, 2022) e qualidade dos ovos produzidos (Hedlund & Jensen, 2022). Assim, a suplementação com probióticos torna-se uma ótima opção, pois promove efeitos benéficos à saúde em resposta ao estresse das aves, além de melhorar o processo de adaptação ao ambiente de produção (Jha et al, 2020;Krysiak et al, 2021).…”

“…Vários mecanismos de ação dos probióticos à base de bacillus spp. foram propostos, dentre eles a viabilização da atividade neuroquímica (Jiang et al, 2022), por meio da manutenção da microbiota equilibrada, resultando em melhor saúde e integridade intestinal. Esta ação facilita a síntese e secreção de neurotransmissores como a serotonina, estimulando o eixo intestino-cérebro (Jiang et al, 2022;Lyte et al, 2022;Cheng et al, 2001;Cheng et al, 2019).…”

“…foram propostos, dentre eles a viabilização da atividade neuroquímica (Jiang et al, 2022), por meio da manutenção da microbiota equilibrada, resultando em melhor saúde e integridade intestinal. Esta ação facilita a síntese e secreção de neurotransmissores como a serotonina, estimulando o eixo intestino-cérebro (Jiang et al, 2022;Lyte et al, 2022;Cheng et al, 2001;Cheng et al, 2019). O benefício mais evidente, que é a melhoria no bem-estar das aves, advém do aumento nas concentrações de serotonina circulante, afinal 90% deste neurotransmissor, conhecido popularmente como "hormônio da felicidade" é produzido no intestino (Almeida Paz et al, 2019).…”

Regulatory Effects of the Probiotic <i>Clostridium butyricum</i> on Gut Microbes, Intestinal Health, and Growth Performance of Chickens

“…Dietary supplementation with Enterococcus faecium AL41 increased the number of myonuclei per fiber, improved capillarization, and further improved body weight owing to the high intramuscular expression of IGF-1 and lowered MYF5 expression in broilers ( Albrecht et al , 2022 ). In addition, microbiota dysbiosis may induce neuroinflammation via the microbiota–gut–brain axis, which causes injurious behaviors in chickens ( Jiang et al , 2022 ; Shamshirgaran et al , 2022 ). Jiang et al (2022) showed that the probiotic B. subtilis reduced stress-induced injurious behavior by mediating the gut–microbiota–brain axis.…”