GUT HEALTH ▶▶▶
Balanced microbiota essential in NAE production systems
Reduced antibiotic use (NAE) in poultry production increases the need to maintain a healthy and properly functioning gut. A key component in this is a balanced microbiota. But ensuring that is, indeed, a constant balancing act.
BY TIM JOHNSON, DIAMOND V T
WIthout anti- biotic interven- tion, microbes can be handed down from par- ent to progeny.
oday, most producers are laser-focused on the bird in front of them, especially when it comes to their health if they’re raising them for meat. When we think about the microbes inside a chicken or turkey,
such as bacteria and fungi, we don’t always contemplate where they originated. We’ve known for a very long time that some of these things can be transferred through the egg, which is what we refer to as vertical transfer.
Both good and bad Salmonella is one of the negative microbes that can be trans- mitted and is a major concern when it comes to food safety. However, more and more studies are indicating that it’s not just bad bacteria being passed along. It’s a lot of good bacteria too. These are the first microbes already colonizing the egg when it’s hatched. When it comes to establishing a healthy microbio-
ta for living organisms, we have to think about nature versus human intevention. In nature, when an egg is laid it is exposed to a natural environment, and microbes colonize the surface. Commercially, humans clean eggs, disinfect them and remove the natural microbes in the process. So, what’s the biggest dilemma? Because we eliminate their competition through clean processes in a hatchery, it can take more time to control harmful bacteria such as E. coli and Salmo- nella when problems arise. When we try to manipulate the young bird’s microbiome, we shouldn’t think of just the bird. A more holistic view is needed, going right back to the breeder source.
The ‘hygiene hypothesis’ We live in an age of cleanliness. Most of our household clean- ers promise to kill 99.9% of bacteria. Hand sanitizer is being bought in bulk. But science is also telling us that being too clean is not always a good thing. Evidence shows that people who grew up on farms have fewer allergies and are less af- fected by asthma compared to people from suburban areas or houses that tend to be cleaner. When we’re born, we en- counter many different microbes. It’s up to our immune sys- tem to decide which ones are good and which ones are bad. In chickens and turkeys that are raised for consumption, it’s mostly the same idea. Typically, barns with the highest dis-
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▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 2, 2021
ILLUSTRATION: DIAMOND V
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