The present study was designed to investigate the effects of a precision glycan Microbiome Metabolic Modulator (MMM) on growth performance and gut health parameters in broiler chickens. The MMM nutritional product was compared against conventional essential oil products and an antibiotic positive control.
S. Ramirez1, V. Jacquier2, M.C Walsh3 and J.M. Geremia4
1 DSM Nutritional Products, Singapore – 2 DSM Nutritional Products, ANH, CRNA, Village-Neuf, France – 3 DSM Nutritional Products, ANH, Kaiseraugst, Switzerland – 4 Midori USA Inc., Cambridge MA, USA
During the study, a natural coccidiosis outbreak appeared, obliging us to conclude the study at 28 days for welfare purposes, but providing us an opportunity to evaluate treatment effects on the emergent coccidiosis. Day-old Ross 308 broiler chicks were randomly allocated to one of six treatments with 8 replicate pens per treatment and 15 birds per pen. Dietary treatments included: 1) negative control (NC); 2) NC with Avilamycin (10 ppm); 3) NC with essential oil product #1 (commercial dose, 40 ppm); 4) NC + essential oil product #2 (commercial dose, 150 ppm); 5) NC + essential oil product #3 (commercial dose, 300 ppm); and 6) NC with MMM (400 ppm in final feed). Body weight (BW), feed intake (FI), and mortality rate were recorded throughout the trial. Feed conversion ratio was corrected for mortality and adjusted to a common body weight (cFCR). Intestinal lesions were scored at the end of the study. Histology samples were also fixed for intestinal morphological determination. In this study, the MMM treatment improved cFCR versus the NC (P<0.05). At the level of the entire intestine, the MMM treatment resulted in reduced intestinal lesions compared to the essential oil treatments and similar to the antibiotic treatment (P<0.05). At the same time, in the duodenum, both the MMM and essential oil treatments reduced the severity of intestinal lesions compared to the NC. Both the MMM and Avilamycin treatments resulted in greater mucosa thickness in the ileum (P=0.02) and villus length (P=0.04) compared to the essential oil treatments. In conclusion, the supplementation of diets with MMM resulted in similar and in some cases superior performance to the Avilamycin treatment and in all cases superior performance to the essential oils treatments. Harnessing the functionality of the microbiome through modulation of microbial metabolite output is a promising new approach to supporting the nutritional health, performance and sustainability of broiler production.
Introduction
Coccidiosis is caused by Apicomplexa protozoa of the family Eimeriidae. In poultry, most species responsible for coccidiosis belong to the genus Eimeria, which infect various sites in the intestine. Coccidiosis is recognized as one of the most common and economically important diseases in broilers, with an estimated $16.7 billion in losses globally per year. The average cost of coccidiosis per chicken produced is estimated to be $0.21. Traditionally, coccidiosis has been controlled through the use of chemical coccidiostats, ionophores, and vaccines. But there is an ongoing effort to decrease the use of chemical and ionophore anti-coccidials due to consumer and regulatory pressure to reduce the overall use of medicated feed additives in broiler production. The industry therefore seeks alternative approaches to managing coccidiosis. This study evaluated the effect of a novel precision glycan microbiome metabolic modulator (MMM) on birds’ resilience that encountered a natural (unintended) coccidiosis outbreak during the grow-out, compared to various common essential oil products.
Method
Results
The study was halted at 28 d due to a natural coccidiosis outbreak. Oocysts counts were performed and indicated that oocyst counts were above 4000 opg for all treatment groups. The growth performance results are summarized in Table 2.
Intestinal lesions scores on day 28 are reported in Table 3.
Intestinal morphological parameters are reported in Table 4.MMM significantly increased villus height and mucosa thickness compared to essentials oils and NC treatments, but was not different to the Avilamycin treatment. Villus height:crypt depth ratio was significantly higher in the Avilamycin treatment compared to all other treatments (P=0.03).
Discussion
In this study, MMM was more effective than essential oils at reducing intestinal damage and maintaining growth performance due to a coccidiosis outbreak. MMM resulted in similar increases in ileal mucosa thickness and villus length compared to the Avilamycin treatment. Interestingly, Blokker et al. reported similar effects of MMM on gut morphology following a nutritional and vaccine overdose challenge. Authors suggested that MMM may contribute to reducing dysbacteriosis and promoting resilience to coccidiosis infection. This is consistent with the findings of this present study where intestinal lesions were reduced with MMM, reducing the severity of coccidia infection and loss in feed efficiency similar to the antibiotic treatment. In conclusion, modifying the functional pathways of the microbiome through the use of a precision glycan microbiome metabolic modulator was an effective tool at creating resilience to an enteric insult as seen through reduced performance losses and intestinal damage.
References are available on request
From the Proceedings of the Australian Poultry Science Symposium 2021