Abstract
BackgroundReducing antibiotics overuse in animal agriculture is one key in combat against the spread of antibiotic resistance. Probiotics are a potential replacement of antibiotics in animal feed; however, it is not clear whether and how probiotics and antibiotics differ in impact on physiology and microbial ecology of host animals.ResultsHost phenotype and fecal microbiota of broilers with either antibiotics or probiotics as feed additive were simultaneously sampled at four time points from birth to slaughter and then compared. Probiotic feeding resulted in a lower feed conversion ratio (FCR) and induced the highest level of immunity response, suggesting greater economic benefits in broiler farming. Probiotic use but not antibiotic use recapitulated the characteristics of age-dependent development of gut microbiota in the control group. The maturation of intestinal microbiota was greatly accelerated by probiotic feeding, yet significantly retarded and eventually delayed by antibiotic feeding. LP-8 stimulated the growth of many intestinal Lactobacillus spp. and led to an altered bacterial correlation network where Lactobacillus spp. are negatively correlated with 14 genera and positively linked with none, yet from the start antibiotic feeding featured a less-organized network where such inter-genera interactions were fewer and weaker. Consistently, microbiota-encoded functions as revealed by metagenome sequencing were highly distinct between the two groups. Thus, “intestinal microbiota maturation index” was proposed to quantitatively compare impact of feed additives on animal microecology.ConclusionsOur results reveal a tremendous potential of probiotics as antibiotics’ substitute in poultry farming.
Highlights
Reducing antibiotics overuse in animal agriculture is one key in combat against the spread of antibiotic resistance
Development of broiler intestinal microbiota with either probiotics or antibiotics as feed supplement A total of 270 1-day-old Cobb 500 broilers were first randomly divided into three groups: they were either fed a base diet, the base diet plus the antibiotics of chlortetracycline and salinomycin at 500 g/ton-of-feed each, or the base diet plus LP-8 in drinking water
To assess the immunological response, immune indices including immune organ indices, serum Immune globulin G (IgG), and intestinal secretory Immune globulin A (IgA) were measured for specific organs and tissues [21]
Summary
Reducing antibiotics overuse in animal agriculture is one key in combat against the spread of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic intake of food animals, as well as the resulted antibiotic residue in food, has been recognized as one leading cause of the rapid spread of antimicrobial resistance in human populations [1, 2]. Antibiotic residues in food animals is a consequence of antibiotic overuse in animal feed [6]. Efforts seeking alternatives for in-feed antibiotics started in the 1980s and have gained enormous interest in recent years [11]. Such alternatives include fiber-degrading enzymes, prebiotics, probiotics, symbiotics, and phytobiotics [12]. A meta-analysis of 35 studies of probiotics across Brazil between 1995 and 2005 indicated that probiotics are technically viable alternatives to antibiotics in broiler chicken feed [14]
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