Evaluating Turkey-Derived Lactic-Acid-Producing Bacteria as Potential Probiotics for Use in Commercial Turkeys

Abstract

Lactic-acid-producing bacteria (LAB) are widely used in the poultry industry, and they are positively associated with gut health and growth performance. Despite their wide use in poultry production, LAB appear to be highly variable in their ability to modulate poultry gut health and growth performance. Furthermore, most commercially available LAB probiotics are not host specific; thus, few poultry-specific and even fewer turkey-specific probiotics exist. The objective of this study was to use probiotic screening assays to compare relevant phenotypic differences amongst different species of turkey-derived LAB, in an effort to identify potential probiotics for use in turkey production. Different in vitro assays were used to compare the probiotic potential (phenotype) of each turkey-derived LAB isolate. Twenty-four isolates representing eight different species and five different genera were used for our experiments. These assays included acid tolerance, bile tolerance, and adhesion ability. There was variability in assay performance across many individual strains in every assay performed. Isolates between species and, in some cases, isolates within the same species, differed in their performance between the assays. Some isolates that were identified performed favorably in all the assays in this study. In conclusion, high-performing isolates were identified in this study, which hold potential for influencing turkey health and productivity.