Abstract
Intestinal health is critically important for the welfare and performance of poultry. Enteric diseases that cause gut barrier failure result in high economic losses. Up till now there is no reliable faecal marker to measure gut barrier failure under field conditions. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to identify a faecal protein marker for diminished intestinal barrier function due to enteric diseases in broilers. To assess this, experimental necrotic enteritis and coccidiosis in broilers were used as models for gut barrier failure. Ovotransferrin was identified as a marker for gut barrier failure using a proteomics approach on samples from chickens with necrotic enteritis. These results were confirmed via ELISA on samples derived from both necrotic enteritis and coccidiosis trials, where faecal ovotransferrin levels were significantly correlated with the severity of gut barrier failure caused by either coccidiosis or necrotic enteritis. This indicates that faecal ovotransferrin quantification may represent a valuable tool to measure gut barrier failure caused by enteric pathogens.
Highlights
Intestinal health is critically important for the welfare and performance of poultry
There was an increased presence (p < 0.0001) of ovotransferrin in samples from birds suffering from necrotic enteritis
Ovotransferrin is an iron-binding glycoprotein that is synthesized both in the liver and the oviduct, which exhibits antimicrobial activity that can partially be attributed to its ability to bind and sequester iron (Fe3+), essential for bacterial growth [23]
Summary
Intestinal health is critically important for the welfare and performance of poultry. Enteric diseases that affect the structural integrity of the gastrointestinal tract lead to high economic losses due to reduced weight gain, poor feed conversion efficiency, increased mortality rates and greater medication costs [1, 2]. Coccidiosis and necrotic enteritis (NE) probably are the most common enteric diseases of poultry [3, 4]. Coccidiosis can be caused by multiple species belonging to the genus Eimeria, of which Eimeria acervulina, E. maxima and E. tenella are the most common species in intensively reared broilers. Lesions are found in the intestines at a specific place for each Eimeria species. E. acervulina typically infects the duodenum, whereas E. maxima infects both the duodenum and jejunum and E
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