Dietary supplemental coated essential oils and organic acids mixture improves growth performance and gut health along with reduces Salmonella load of broiler chickens infected with Salmonella Enteritidis

Background Reducing Salmonella infection in broiler chickens by using effective and safe alternatives to antibiotics is vital to provide safer poultry meat and minimize the emergence of drug-resistant Salmonella and the spread of salmonellosis to humans.This study was to first evaluate the protective efficacy of feeding coated essential oils and organic acids mixture(EOA)on broiler chickens infected with Salmonella Enteritidis(S.Enteritidis,SE),and then its action mechanism was further explored.Methods A total of 4801-day-old Arbor Acres male chickens were randomly assigned into five treatments with six replicates,including non-challenged control fed with basal diet(A),SE-challenged control(B),and SE-infected birds fed a basal diet with 300 mg/kg of EOA(BL),500 mg/kg of EOA(BM)and 800 mg/kg of EOA(BH),respectively.All birds on challenged groups were infected with Salmonella Enteritidis on d 13.Results Feeding EOA showed a reversed ability on negative effects caused by SE infection,as evidenced by decreasing the feed conversion rate(FCR)and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth(VH/CD)(P<0.05),obviously decreasing intestinal and internal organs Salmonella load along with increasing cecal butyric acid-producing bacteria abundance(P<0.05).Moreover,supplemental different levels of EOA notably up-regulated claudin-1(CLDN-1),occludin(OCLN),zonula occludens-1(ZO-1),mucin-2(MUC-2),fatty acid binding protein-2(FABP-2),nuclear factor kappa-light-chainenhancer of activated B cells(NF-κB),myeloid differential protein-88(MyD88)and interleukin-6(IL-6)mRNA levels in the ileum of the infected chickens after challenge,whereas down-regulated toll-like receptor-4(TLR-4)mRNA levels(P<0.05).Linear discriminant analysis combined effect size measurements analysis(LEfSe)showed that the relative abundance of g_Butyricicoccus,g_Anaerotruncus and g_unclassified_f_Bacillaceae significantly was enriched in infected birds given EOA.Also,phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states(PICRUSt)analysis showed that alpha-linolenic acid metabolism,fatty acid metabolism and biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids were significantly enriched in the EOA group.Conclusion Our data suggest that the essential oils and organic acids mixture can be used as an effective strategy to ameliorate and alleviate Salmonella Enteritidis infection in broilers.

Dietary coated essential oil and organic acid mixture supplementation improves health of broilers infected with avian pathogenic Escherichia coli

Colibacillosis caused by avian pathogenic Escherichia coli(APEC)is a very prevalent disease in poultry farms in China.The exploration of effective non-antibiotic substances is of great significance for the control of APEC infections.This experiment evaluated the efficacy of coated essential oil and organic acid(EOA)supplementation to prevent E.coli O78 infection in broiler chickens.A total of 288 one-day-old male broiler chicks were randomly distributed into 4 groups with 6 replicates per group.Chickens were fed a diet either supplemented with EOA(500 mg/kg feed)or not,and either uninfected or infected with E.coli O78 intratracheally.Results showed that E.coli O78 infection reduced body weight gain,increased mortality and the ratio of feed to gain along with cecal and liver E.coli load,damaged gut mucosa,induced local and systemic inflammation,and altered cecal microbial composition,diversity and function(P<0.05).Supplemental EOA improved feed conversion efficiency,lowered gross lesion scores and cecal E.coli population,enhanced intestinal goblet cells and serum IgG concentration,and tended to decrease serum IL-12 production(P<0.05).Essential oil and organic acid addition downregulated IFN-γmRNA,tended to decrease mucin-2 mRNA levels while upregulating IL-10 mRNA,and tended to increase ZO-1 gene expression in the jejuna of infected birds at 7 d after E.coli O78 challenge(P<0.05).The 16S rRNA gene sequencing indicated that both EOA addition and E.coli O78 challenge altered the diversity and composition of the cecal microbiota community.Furthermore,infected birds fed EOA showed decreased Bacteroidetes and genus Lactobacillus abundance compared with the infected control.LEfSe analysis showed that Firmicutes,Ruminococcaceae,Clostridiales,Clostridia,Lactobacillus,Lactobacilaceae,and cc-115 were enriched in the non-infected but EOA-treated group(P<0.05).Collectively,dietary EOA supplementation could mildly alleviate E.coli-induced gut injury and inflammation.