Abstract
ABSTRACT This study was conducted to isolate Lactobacillus salivarius and Pediococcus pentosaceus strains from cecal content and investigate their probiotic potential in specific pathogen free (SPF) chickens. L. salivarius and P. pentosaceus strains were isolated from the cecal content of SPF chickens and identified by 16s rDNA sequence analysis by BLAST analysis at the National Center for Biotechnology Information and phylogenetic analysis using DNAStar software. In an in vivo experiment, 180 7-day-old SPF chickens were randomly assigned into three groups. Group 1 served as a control that was fed a basal diet without probiotic supplementation, and groups 2 and 3 were fed the basal diets supplemented with L. salivarius and P. pentosaceus at 2×108 CFU/g, respectively. Body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), dressing percentage (DP), and the apparent digestibility of crude protein (AD-CP) were calculated. We also determined meat color, fat content, shear force, water content and pH value of breast and thigh muscles; ammonia, urea nitrogen and uric acid content in plasma; fecal ammonia emission level and pH value; and Lactobacillus and Escherichia coli in ceca. Compared with the control group, L. salivarius and P. pentosaceus supplementation significantly increased BW, ADG, DP, AD-CP, fat content of meat, and the number of Lactobacillus in ceca (p<0.05), and decreased FCR, plasma ammonia content, fecal ammonia emission, and pH value and the number of E. coli in ceca (p<0.05). In the in vitro experiment, L. salivarius and P. pentosaceus treatments significantly decreased the ammonia content in medium compared with the control group without probiotic treatment (p<0.05). These results suggest that P. pentosaceus and L. salivarius strains show promising probiotic properties for improving growth, meat quality and microenvironment in chickens and decreasing ammonia content in the medium.
Highlights
Probiotics such as Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, and Bifidobacterium have been defined as “a live microbial feed supplement which beneficially affects the host by improving its intestinal microbial balance” and widely distributed in nature, vegetables, dairy products, and the gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals (Carraro et al, 2011; Vidhyasagar et al, 2013)
Six strains of lactic acid bacteria were isolated from the cecal content of specific pathogen free (SPF) chickens on MRS Agar under anaerobic conditions
PCR products of the six strains were sequenced, and nucleotide sequences were most similar to the sequences of P. pentosaceus or L. salivarius with the highest sequence identity by BLAST sequence analysis and placed in the P. pentosaceus branch or the L. salivarius branch with the highest sequence homology by phylogenetic and homology analysis of 16s rDNA sequence
Summary
Probiotics such as Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, and Bifidobacterium have been defined as “a live microbial feed supplement which beneficially affects the host by improving its intestinal microbial balance” and widely distributed in nature, vegetables, dairy products, and the gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals (Carraro et al, 2011; Vidhyasagar et al, 2013). Promising probiotic strains should have some superior biological properties, especially improving growth performance, intestinal microbiota balance, and meat quality, and decreasing noxious gas emission (Meng et al, 2010; Fan et al, 2013; Jeong et al, 2014; Peng et al, 2016) These have become essential indicators for evaluating the potential of food biopreservatives or probiotic additives in humans and animals (Kabir et al, 2004; Biagi et al, 2007; Nagpal et al, 2012; Mookiah et al, 2014; Altaher et al, 2015; Peng et al, 2016; Bai et al, 2017). The objectives of this study were to isolate and identify P. pentosaceus and L. salivarius strains from cecal content and investigate their potential probiotic effects on growth, meat quality and microenvironment in specific pathogen free (SPF) chickens, and ammonia treatment in vitro
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