Abstract
Enterococcus faecium (E. faecium) is a protective role that has crucial beneficial functions on intestinal homeostasis. This study aimed to investigate the effects of E. faecium on the laying performance, egg quality, host metabolism, intestinal mucosal immunity, and gut microbiota of laying hens under the Salmonella Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) challenge. A total of 400 45-week-old laying hens were randomly divided into four treatments (CON, EF, SCON, and SEF groups) with five replicates for each group and 20 hens per replicate and fed with a basal diet or a basal diet supplemented with E. faecium (2.5 × 108 cfu/g feed). The experiment comprised two phases, consisting of the pre-salmonella challenged phase (from day 14 to day 21) and the post-salmonella challenged phase (from day 21 to day 42). At day 21 and day 22, the hens in SCON and SEF groups were orally challenged with 1.0 ml suspension of 109 cfu/ml S. Enteritidis (CVCC3377) daily, whereas the hens in CON and EF groups received the same volume of sterile PBS. Herein, our results showed that E. faecium administration significantly improved egg production and shell thickness during salmonella infection. Also, E. faecium affected host lipid metabolism parameters via downregulating the concentration of serum triglycerides, inhibited oxidative stress, and enhanced immune functions by downregulating the level of serum malondialdehyde and upregulating the level of serum immunoglobulin G. Of note, E. faecium supplementation dramatically alleviated intestinal villi structure injury and crypt atrophy, and improved intestinal mucosal barrier injuries caused by S. Enteritidis challenge. Moreover, our data revealed that E. faecium supplementation ameliorated S. Enteritidis infection-induced gut microbial dysbiosis by altering the gut microbial composition (reducing Bacteroides, Desulfovibrio, Synergistes, and Sutterella, and increasing Barnesiella, Butyricimonas, Bilophila, and Candidatus_Soleaferrea), and modulating the gut microbial function, such as cysteine and methionine metabolism, pyruvate metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, tryptophan metabolism, salmonella infection, and the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. Taken together, E. faecium has a strong capacity to inhibit the S. Enteritidis colonization of hens. The results highlight the potential of E. faecium supplementation as a dietary supplement to combat S. Enteritidis infection in animal production and to promote food safety.
Highlights
Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (S. enterica) infection is an important public health problem and associated with significant morbidity and mortality in those infected with the pathogen [1, 2]
Our results showed that the abundance of cysteine and methionine metabolism, pyruvate metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, tryptophan metabolism, salmonella infection, and the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway were dramatically increased in the SEF group, while the levels of purine metabolism and apoptosis were decreased compared with the strains in the control group (SCON) group (Figure 7B)
We found that E. faecium supplementation significantly improved the laying performance and egg quality to combat the S
Summary
Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (S. enterica) infection is an important public health problem and associated with significant morbidity and mortality in those infected with the pathogen [1, 2]. Salmonella infection is associated with intestinal damage, impaired absorption of nutrients, and poor overall performance in poultry. Salmonella, as a common foodborne pathogen that affects humans, poses a serious threat to human health via contaminated poultry products, including laying eggs and meat [6]. Infection with salmonella significantly increases chick mortality and disrupts egg formation to reduce laying performance and egg quality in hens [8, 9]. Egg production and egg quality by the hens in the peak egg production stage are affected by manifold factors, especially salmonella infection [10, 11]. Salmonella infection in hens disrupts host metabolism and intestinal barrier functions and promotes host inflammatory responses and oxidative stress. Many studies have demonstrated that probiotic supplementation might be an effective strategy to solve this public problem in poultry [17, 18]
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