Abstract
BackgroundNecrotic enteritis (NE), caused by Clostridium perfringens, has cost the poultry industry $2 billion in losses. This study aimed to investigate the effect of Bacillus licheniformis as dietary supplement on the growth, serum antioxidant status, and expression of lipid-metabolism genes of broiler chickens with C. perfringens-induced NE.MethodsA total of 240 one-day-old broilers were randomly grouped into four: a negative control, an NE experimental model (PC), chickens fed a diet supplemented with 30 % of fishmeal from day 14 onwards and challenged with coccidiosis vaccine (FC), and NE group supplied with feed containing 1.0 × 106 CFU/g B. licheniformis (BL).ResultsBody weight gain, feed conversion ratio, serum antioxidant status, and lipid-metabolism-gene expression were analyzed. In the PC group, FCR increased significantly whereas serum catalase and glutathione peroxidase activity decreased compared with NC group. Dietary B. licheniformis supplementation improved FCR and oxidative stress in experimental avian NE. Using Bacillus licheniformis as a direct-fed microbial (DFM) could also significantly upregulate catabolism-related genes, namely, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α and carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1, in livers and changed the expression of lipid-anabolism genes.ConclusionThese results suggested that dietary B. licheniformis supplementation can enhance growth and antioxidant ability, as well as change the expression of genes related to fatty-acid synthesis and oxidation in the livers of NE-infected broilers.
Highlights
Necrotic enteritis (NE), caused by Clostridium perfringens, has cost the poultry industry $2 billion in losses
feed conversion ratio (FCR) impaired by approximately 12.4 points because of the NE infection in the PC group compared with the negative control
The body weight gain (BWG) of the infected chickens supplemented with B. licheniformis increased significantly over those of the PC group (P < 0.05)
Summary
Necrotic enteritis (NE), caused by Clostridium perfringens, has cost the poultry industry $2 billion in losses. Zhou et al Lipids in Health and Disease (2016) 15:48 the past decade [7, 8] This disease costs the poultry industry $2 billion annually in the purchase of drugs to treat NE and in the lost body weight gain (BWG) [9, 10]. B. licheniformis, which are “generally recognized as safe” bacteria, have long been extensively used in the poultry industry. This bacteria can serve as an alternative to antibiotics to enhance growth performance in poultry [16] and is a useful prebiotic for overcoming NE in a commercial-like condition [17, 18]
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