Injecting eggs with certain probiotics could help promote the gut health and immunocompetence of hatched chicks.
“The idea is that it’ll enhance the development of the lymphoid organ and also the maturity of the immune system so that it can actually enhance the resistance against infections after hatch,” Khaled Abdelaziz, an assistant professor of immunology at the Clemson University Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, said.
The challenges of Campylobacter
Campylobacter is the cause of one of the leading foodborne illnesses worldwide and is responsible for 1.5 million illnesses in the U.S. each year, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates. Approximately four out of every five instances of Campylobacter in people results from handling and eating contaminated chicken meat.
“It presents a major challenge to the poultry industry because food safety constitutes a major concern to consumers,” Abdelaziz said.
In addition, growing antibiotic resistance throughout the world makes Campylobacter even tougher to treat.
“We need to find alternatives to antibiotics for treatment of this disease in humans and also develop novel antimicrobials for the prevention of infection in chickens,” he added.
Abdelaziz’s research is based on the One Health initiative, an approach to public health through the interconnectedness of diseases in people, animals, plants and the environment.
How probiotics boost poultry gut health
Probiotics are live microorganisms that confer a health benefit to the gut of a host, in this case, poultry. This project focused on probiotics containing lactobacilli, a bacteria also found in yogurt, sauerkraut and sourdough bread.
When the probiotic was administered to eggs two days before hatch, the resulting chicks displayed higher immune responses in the lymphoid organ responsible for antibody production. Dr. Abdelaziz and his team are currently investigating whether these induced responses would enhance the resistance of hatched chicks against a number of poultry diseases, including Campylobacter.
“These are very interesting findings because it’s not only immune system genes, but also the genes responsible for the development of the organ,” Abdelaziz explained.
