How Important Is The Intestinal Health In Today’s Poultry Production?

To maximize flock efficiency, disease challenge management requires a carefully design, multi-tiered approach, which includes consideration of elements ranging from flock health and productivity to chick or poult viability. In addition, the term “efficiency” implies the all important economic component. Because the production system is profit drive, decisions regarding disease challenge can rarely be made based solely on biological grounds. Disease management intervention also requires sound economic justification, which begins with clearly defining the financial risk associated with disease.

Bird performance continues to increase linearly because of efficient breeding and selection programs, but each increment in improvement is 1 step closer to the point of physiological limit and diminishing returns. Production systems need to be modified to better satisfy bird requirements and disease prevention, diagnosis and control strategies changed to preclude physiological, nutritional and agent induced pathologies from affecting performance. (Collet,  2019)

Intestinal health is necessary to maintain efficient and sustainable gastrointestinal tract (GIT) physiology (Perry, 2006; Choct, 2009; Salois et al., 2016). The GIT has digestive, absorptive, metabolic, immunological and endocrinological functions (Perry, 2006; Svihus, 2014). This means that disruptions of intestinal health can affect one to several systemic functions. Because of the key role of GIT in animal production, the physiological roles of the avian gastrointestinal tract and the consequences of possible alterations have been the focus of decades of research and extensive reviews (Perry, 2006; Yegani and Korver, 2008; Choct, 2009), Over the past two decades, this topic has gained even more interest in poultry production due to increasing demands for economic efficiency, animal welfare, food safety, reduction in environmental impacts, and a ban on or avoidance of growth promotant antibiotic use (Smith, 2011; Morgan, 2017).

There is no doubt that healthy avian guts are essential to optimize digestibility, minimize nutrient excretion, and consequently mitigate the environmental impacts of ammonia, odors, and other gas emissions with health and welfare impacts inside and outside the poultry house that can impact the health and welfare of birds and human workers (Nahm, 2002; Costa et al., 2008). High litter moisture and ammonia production may impact the incidence and severity of footpad dermatitis, hock burns, carcass quality defects, and respiratory diseases (Homidan et al., 2003; Collet, 2006).

The production of antibiotic free (ABF) poultry is a common trend worldwide (Cervantes, 2015), because the use of some growth promotant antibiotics (GPA) has been banned by certain governments in many countries (Phillips, 2007) and consumer interest in avoiding the consumption of food products that may contain traces of GPA is increasing in others (Phillips et al., 2004; Brewer and Rojas, 2008). For the past 50 years in animal production, GPA have been an excellent tool to control dysbacteriosis and enteropathogens (Dibner and Richards, 2005). Despite scientific evidence indicating that GPA could still be used rationally in animal feeding (Phillips et al., 2004; Cervantes, 2015), the market tendencies and the constant negative publicity in the media against GPA indicate that the great majority of the poultry industry will or should implement ABF production to a certain level, due to the perceived marketing opportunities (Brewer and Rojas, 2008).

Although many poultry companies have years of experience working with the ABF systems, some of them still have difficulties controlling diverse health challenges (Phillips, 2007; Smith, 2011; Morgan, 2017). However, there are other companies with successful experiences that resulted from improvements in housing and changes in feeding, management, and health programs (Smith, 2011; Cervantes, 2015; Salois et al., 2016). The changes used to achieve the environmental control, biosecurity, feed quality, and husbandry level necessary to control the multitude of factors that may affect intestinal health with ABF could increase the cost of production. The ABF systems can still be profitable as long as the prices of the final ABF products can cover the costs of investments necessary to produce these products (Smith, 2011; Cervantes, 2015).

Future ABF production and its sustainability depend on developing a larger understanding and practical application of concepts related to intestinal health that imply complete holistic management of the production system. 

We need to summarize the main concepts necessary for understanding the broad aspects of intestinal health. The discussion starts by emphasizing the importance of intestinal health to enhancing nutrient digestibility and to preserving normal physiological functions in modern poultry species (Choct, 2009). These, in turn, help to develop and later maintain an ecological equilibrium with gut microbiota, where the bird is an active host (Apajalahti and Bedford, 1999). A short review of factors that may disrupt the equilibrium of gut ecosystems includes examples of details involved with frequently unforeseen consequences. The importance of the effects of corn hybrid (Gehring et al., 2012) and drying temperatures (Gehring et al., 2013) on the feedstuff quality assurance program are one example. Another is how more attention should be placed on guaranteeing good water quality from the physicochemical standpoint, because, it is important for good digestion and can minimize microbial proliferation in the water lines, nipples, and drinkers (Zimmerman et al., 1993; Zimmerman and Douglass, 1998; May et al., 2000; Collet, 2005; Vieira and Lima, 2005). One more key factor to keep in mind is that breeder health, nutrition and welfare (Eusebio-Balcazar et al., 2014), as well as incubation conditions (Wineland et al., 2006a,b) are necessary to ensure proper embryo development and therefore guarantee healthier birds. Additionally, some comments will be made about environmental control and daily biosecurity.

One central concept included in any debate regarding intestinal health and ABF production is the potential modulation of gut microflora by using available alternative products like certain organic acids, short- and medium-chain fatty acids, essential oils, phytobiotics, and probiotic/prebiotic (symbiotics). Finally, necessary changes in health programs will be discussed focusing, first, on coccidia and intestinal parasite control and then, on the effects of vaccinations and biosecurity to control other common poultry diseases.

Alternative, new feed additives classified as probiotics, prebiotics, enzymes, organic acids, and herb extracts can also be helpful (Ferket, 2004). Direct-fed microbials (DFM) are one of the multiple alternatives commonly evaluated as substitutes of AGP. Sporeformer bacteria from the genus Bacillus have been extensively investigated because of their extraordinary properties to form highly resistant endospores, produce antimicrobial compounds, and synthesize different exogenous enzymes. Their most predominant characteristics are their enzyme production profile, biofilm synthesis capacity, and pathogen-inhibition activity. (La Torre, Tellez et. al 2016)

On our next edition we will disclose all the details about why the Bacillus and how do they work.

References:
Swayne, David E. “Principles of Disease Prevention, Diagnosis, and Control.” By Stephen R. Collett, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2016, pg 3

Swayne, David E. “Antimicrobial Therapy.” By Charles L. Hofacre, Randall S. singer and Timothy J. Johnson; Collett, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2016, pg 40

Swayne, David E. “General Features of the Avian Immune System.” by Jagdev M. Sharma

Latorre Juan D., Tellez Guillermo et al. “Evaluation and Selection of Bacillus Species Based on Enzyme Production, Antimicrobial Activity and Biofilm Synthesis as Direct – Fed Microbial Candidates for Poultry.”, Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 2016, pg 1

Oviedo-Rondón Edgar “Holistic View of intestinal health in poultry”. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 2019, pages 1-8