Managing gut health in antibiotic-free layer production

The gut health of layers plays a crucial role in preventing disease and maintaining flock health, especially in antibiotic-free production environments.

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The gut health of layers plays a crucial role in preventing disease and maintaining flock health, especially in antibiotic-free production environments.

“Optimum layer gut health leads to consistently superior pullet growth, body weight uniformity, egg production, and feed conversion. The many intestinal insults that pullets and layers may encounter, for example mycotoxins, pathogens, oxidative stressors, etc., can result in inflammation – enteritis, malabsorption and leaky gut syndrome,” Eric Gingerich, DVM, technical services specialist with Diamond V, explained.

Many of the layer diseases associated with poor gut health, including coccidiosis, necrotic enteritis, viral enteritis, heat stress, colibacillosis and focal duodenal necrosis, have seen a resurgence with the industry-wide move away from the use of antibiotics. These diseases can lower production and affect egg weight and quality, affecting a producer’s return on investment (ROI).

Antibiotic-free management strategies

As a result, producers are on the lookout for ways to manage layer health without antibiotics to help maintain flock health.

Gingerich shared several strategies that can help improve layer health, including:

  • Have an effective coccidiosis and necrotic enteritis prevention program in place.
  • Ensure water lines are clean and continually sanitized.
  • Select high-quality feed ingredients and maintain consistency in diets.
  • Reduce oxidative stress through ventilation, stabilized fat sources, and low mycotoxin intake.
  • Use research-proven gut health aids – such as probiotics, prebiotics, postbiotics and essential oils –  that help strengthen the integrity of the intestinal lining and improve the absorptive surface and the immune response to pathogens.
  • Check for focal duodenal necrosis at the first sign of low egg weights or reduced production.

“Simply trying to prevent only gut-associated diseases may be a mistake when it comes to gut health. Instead, proactively improving the overall health of the gut through management and dietary interventions would be a better approach,” Gingerich said.

“By maintaining gut health in top condition, digestion and absorption of nutrients will be enhanced and there will be less nutrient availability for bad microbes to proliferate. Maintaining a healthy balance of gut microbial population is also important.”

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