Effects of Vitamin U on Intestinal Morphology in Broilers Undergoing a Salmonellosis Challenge

Abstract

Shaw, A.L., Macklin, K.S. and Blake, J.P. 2010. Effects of Vitamin U on intestinal morphology in broilers undergoing a salmonellosis challenge. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 37: 145–151. Three experiments compared the effectiveness of Vitamin U (DL-methionine methylsulfonium chloride) with BioMosand BMD (bacitracin methylene disalicylate) on cecal loads of Salmonella, incidence of septicemia and small intestine villous characteristics in broilers challenged with S. Typhimurium. Day-old SPF broilers were orally gavaged with 1 ml S. Typhimurium (108 cfu/ml) and allotted to treatments (3 reps/trt). Dietary treatments were Exp 1: CON (Control), MOS (CON + .095% BioMos), LVU (CON + .03% Vitamin U) and MVU (CON + .06% Vitamin U); Exp 2: CON, MOS, BMD (CON + .005% BMD) and LVU; and Exp 3: CON, MOS, BMD, LVU and HVU (CON + .3% Vitamin U). Cecal contents and liver samples were collected weekly. Intestinal samples were also gathered from the small intestine for measurement of villi length, villi width (Exp. 2 only) and crypt depth for Exp. 2 and 3. A decrease in cecal colonization was noted from week to week for all experiments, though few differences were found across treatments. Trends for systemic infection followed closely with cecal counts, with few differences among treatments. Villi measurements were affected by vitamin U in both experiments 2 and 3. Overall, effects of vitamin U on bacterial counts of Salmonella were similar to BioMos and BMD. BMD and LVU treatments affected intestinal villi measures similarly, with MOS affecting the same measures to a different extent. Thus, the addition of vitamin U into commercial diets at the given levels provides little to no advantage over commercial additives in controlling Salmonella when birds were inoculated with high concentrations.