Abstract
Campylobacter is an important pathogen commonly found in chickens that can cause severe acute gastroenteritis in humans. Despite intensive efforts to inhibit food-borne transmission of Campylobacter no effective strategy exists to reduce Campylobacter loads in farmed broilers. This study examined the capacity of a novel feed additive to lower Campylobacter jejuni populations and to improve growth efficiency of broiler chickens. A total of 384 male one-day-old broiler chicks were used in a 42-day trial. Birds were randomly allocated into four treatments with six replicates of sixteen chicks per pen. Three groups were fed the basal diets further supplemented with TYPLEX™ chelate (ferric tyrosine) at various concentrations (0.02, 0.05 and 0.20 g/kg, groups T2–T4, respectively). Control group (T1) was fed basal diets in mash form that did not contain added ferric tyrosine. Feed and water were provided ad libitum. At 20 days of age, broilers were exposed to natural C. jejuni challenge by introducing contaminated litter from a commercial farm. At day 25, pen litter samples analysed positive for C. jejuni, and the infection intensity was homogeneous among pens. At the end of the study C. jejuni counts in bird caeca were significantly reduced, by 2 log10 in the T4 group, compared to the T1 Control and T3 groups (p = 0.004). During this study, a natural infection with Eimeria tenella occurred at days 26–29. For animal welfare reasons all birds were treated with an anti-coccidial drug as recommended, for two consecutive days. At day 42, diarrhoea was observed on the litter in only 1 of 6 pens in the T4 group, but in 5 of 6 pens in the T1 Control group. In addition, autopsies showed that the T4 group had the highest percentage of birds with normal intestinal tracts. The T1 group had the lowest percentage of birds with infection-free tracts, and higher incidence of coccidiosis and bloody diarrhoea. At 42 days of age all birds were slaughtered and samples collected for further analysis. Birds in the T4 group tended to exhibit improved weight gain and feed efficiency, a result that warrants further investigation. Collectively, our data suggest that addition of ferric tyrosine at 0.20 g/kg exerts a protective effect against C. jejuni and coccidiosis.
Highlights
Antibiotics have been used extensively in diets of livestock to prevent disease and/or increase production efficiency
Performance parameters measured from 0 to 42 days on trial indicated that the dietary supplementation of ferric tyrosine did not have any significant effects on body weight, weight gain, feed intake and feed efficiency (Table 2)
At the end of the study, C. jejuni counts in the litter did not differ significantly between groups, but lower contamination was observed in the T4 group
Summary
Antibiotics have been used extensively in diets of livestock to prevent disease and/or increase production efficiency. There is global pressure to limit their use, due to growing public concerns about antimicrobial resistance, linked to increased risks for human health and food safety (Founou et al, 2017; Santini et al, 2010; Thanner et al, 2016; Vender et al, 2017). There is an urgent need for alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters that can protect farm animals and limit the establishment and growth of bacterial pathogens in their gastrointestinal tracts. Bacterial pathogens can colonise the gut of susceptible animal species causing subclinical or clinical disease, with severe economic consequences, especially under intensive farming conditions (Hermans et al, 2011; Jorgenesn et al, 2011; Humphrey et al, 2014). Many pathogens can survive food processing and so contaminate meat, milk and eggs in retail outlets posing serious health hazards for human consumers (Hermans et al, 2011)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
