The introduction of probiotics to broiler diets can support bird health, and play an integral role in helping the industry meet the ongoing challenge of reducing antibiotic use. Poultry Business speaks to poultry vet, Allan Ball, to find out more about how probiotic supplementation can benefit broiler businesses.
Probiotic supplementation is becoming an increasingly popular tool for improving flock health and performance on broiler farms across the UK.
Allan Ball, poultry vet and clinical director at Slate Hall Veterinary Services, says probiotics have grown in popularity in recent years in response to the drive to reduce antibiotic use on-farm.
“Although probiotics will never replace antibiotics – which will continue to play an important role in treating sick birds – their use can reduce antibiotic usage by supporting overall flock health,” he explains.
“They certainly aren’t a silver bullet for broilers, and proper biosecurity and vaccination strategies still need to be followed; however, in the same way humans take probiotics, they can be used to promote good Intestinal Integrity and a more robust immune system.”
How probiotics work
The key differences between probiotics and antibiotics are the time in which they take to work, and their mode of action, says Ball.
“The response to health challenges with inclusion of probiotics is slower because we’re using them to promote favourable bacterial growth in the gut, and outcompete or overgrow the undesirable bacteria,” he explains.
“When using antibiotics to strip out a large proportion of undesirable bacteria from the bird, unfortunately, we also end up removing some of the favourable bacterial population in the gut.
“This slower response means producers wishing to introduce probiotics to their system need to get better at identifying abnormalities sooner.”
Ball says producers can identify problems earlier by paying closer attention to the birds’ environment and making better use of flock monitoring tools.
“A lot of producers spend time focusing on the birds themselves and not enough time analysing the shed environment, or production parameter trends, to see challenges coming through,” he explains.
“For example, if Intestinal Integrity changes or flock health deteriorates, you’ll see that coming through in the litter conditions later.”
Ball adds many producers are guilty of not making the most of all the different monitoring tools and data at their disposal, such as focusing on shed humidity levels and water intake graphs.
“It’s important to make use of these tools and technology to help us identify problems so we can intervene sooner,” he adds.
Probiotic choice
Probiotic choice is very much dependent on the challenges a producer is hoping to address, and probiotics can be used both in response to challenges and to improve performance.
“Selecting specific strains that improve Intestinal Integrity, and help break down dietary fibre and protein into more digestible components, assists with increasing energy and nutrient availability for birds,” explains Ball.
“This will have a direct impact on performance outcomes such as mortality, bodyweight and feed conversion ratio (FCR).
“Meanwhile, some specific strains have been shown to successfully inhibit key undesirable bacterial species – such as Salmonella, E.coli, Campylobacter, and E. Cecorum – highlighting how strain selection is vital to address different challenges.”
Different strains have different modes of action, with some working as ‘gut colonisers’ – forming a beneficial biofilm and exerting positive effects exactly where they are needed – and others as ‘non-colonisers’.
The key difference is that beneficial biofilm forming strains tend to work over a longer period by successfully colonising and forming a healthy proportion of the gut microbiome, while non-colonisers tend to pass through the gut very quickly to address a specific short-term challenge.
Do your homework
In all instances, Ball advises producers to research the probiotics they intend to use and make sure they select a product that is science-backed, heat stable, and real-world tested.
“Probiotics are not as closely regulated as medicinal or prescription products, so scrutinise the accompanying efficacy data,” he explains.
“You also need to ask about solubility and stability because a lot of these probiotics come in water-soluble powder forms, but powders often don’t dissolve particularly well and you don’t want to be putting them into a closed water system and promoting the growth of undesirable bacteria in the drinker system.”
He adds producers also need to make sure that any in-feed probiotic has scientific data to support its heat stability, ensuring the bacteria can survive the pelleting process.
“It is vital to ensure that the beneficial bacteria can populate the birds’ digestive tract to exert its positive effect,” he explains.
Lastly, Ball says producers looking to introduce probiotics need to adopt a longer-term view to their use.
“It’s important to remember these products take some time to work to alter the farm bacterial populations, and you might not see a good response after one cycle, but producers will reap the rewards after two, or possibly three, cycles,” he adds.