Abstract
Campylobacter as an inhabitant of the poultry gastrointestinal tract has proven to be difficult to reduce with most feed additives. In-feed antibiotics have been taken out of poultry diets due to the negative reactions of consumers along with concerns regarding the generation of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Consequently, interest in alternative feed supplements to antibiotics has grown. One of these alternatives, prebiotics, has been examined as a potential animal and poultry feed additive. Prebiotics are non-digestible ingredients by host enzymes that enhance growth of indigenous gastrointestinal bacteria that elicit metabolic characteristics considered beneficial to the host and depending on the type of metabolite, antagonistic to establishment of pathogens. There are several carbohydrate polymers that qualify as prebiotics and have been fed to poultry. These include mannan-oligosaccharides and fructooligosaccharides as the most common ones marketed commercially that have been used as feed supplements in poultry. More recently, several other non-digestible oligosaccharides have also been identified as possessing prebiotic properties when implemented as feed supplements. While there is evidence that prebiotics may be effective in poultry and limit establishment of foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella in the gastrointestinal tract, less is known about their impact on Campylobacter. This review will focus on the potential of prebiotics to limit establishment of Campylobacter in the poultry gastrointestinal tract and future research directions.
Highlights
Campylobacter is a prevalent foodborne pathogen in poultry such as chicken and turkey
The specific aim of the present review is to provide an overview of Campylobacter in the poultry gastrointestinal tract (GIT) along with the definition of prebiotics and their subsequent effects on the GIT microbiota
These results suggest that the cecum appears to be a preferred habitat for Campylobacter but the proportion of Campylobacter versus total GIT microbial populations in each respective GIT compartment would need to be determined to confirm this
Summary
Campylobacter is a prevalent foodborne pathogen in poultry such as chicken and turkey. Given the ability of Campylobacter to readily establish in the poultry gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of poultry (Indikova et al, 2015), an obvious target for limiting its proliferation are feed additives that serve as mitigation agents when introduced to the GIT of poultry These would include inhibitory agents such as botanicals, organic acids and bacteriophage and colonization preventative biologicals such as prebiotics and probiotics. Prevention of Campylobacter colonization by probiotics and prebiotics may prove more difficult than initially perceived since Campylobacter appear to be extensively interconnected with the indigenous microbiota of the poultry GIT (Indikova et al, 2015) While both approaches have been considered as potential control measures, the focus in this review will be on prebiotics as a means to alter or shift the composition of the already established poultry GIT microbiota and the resulting impact on Campylobacter populations. This will be accompanied by a discussion on the recent findings on the impact of prebiotics as feed supplements on Campylobacter in the poultry GIT, and offer potential directions for future research
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