CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Currently, poultry production systems are challenged, both by the growing demand for organic and sanitary risk-free products, as well as by the increasingly restrictive international legislation regarding the use of antibiotics as growth promoters. Among the alternatives that have emerged to meet market and consumer requirements is the use of probiotics. Bifidobacterium strains isolated from sources other than poultry have shown potential beneficial effects on microbial composition and intestinal metabolism, factors that impact on poultry development. The objective of this work was to introduce bifidobacterial strains isolated from poultry into the drinking water of chicks and to evaluate their safety during poultry development at the early stage of rearing. For this purpose, newly hatched BB chicks of the Cobb genetic line were divided into two groups, GC (control group) and GT (treated group), fed with starter diet. Treated group received water containing a mixture containing 5×108 cfu/mL of of Bifidobacterium pseudolongum subsp. globosum LET 403, B. pseudolongum subsp. pseudolongum LET 404, B. thermophilum LET 411, B. pseudolongum subsp. pseudolongum LET 412 and B. pullorum LET 415, for 14 days. The safety of the dose used was assessed by studying the bacterial translocation to spleen and liver and the evaluation of morphological, histological and enzymatic intestinal parameters. From birth and until 2 weeks of life a constant evolution was observed in the animals without differences between the group that received the bifidobacteria mixture and the control group. Similarities were observed with respect to the evolution of body weight, intestinal length, spleen, liver and bag of Fabricius weight, which did not show hypertrophy. In addition, when Agar plates seeded with liver and spleen homogenates were compared after incubation bacterial translocation to spleen or liver was not detected, indicating that intestinal permeability was not affected with dose used in this study. At the 15th day of the experiment, the effect of bifidobacteria at development of gut mucosa, also involved an increase in the length of the villus-crypt units of the ileum and in the number of total cells compared to the control, but did not affect the number of goblet cells. The enzymatic profile of the intestinal mucosa was analyzed. Saccharase and phytase showed higher activity in the treated group compared to the control. Consumption of the autochthonous bifidobacteria mixture proved to be innocuous for chicks during this in vivo trial. However, further investigations are necessary to elucidate the ability of this genus to upgrade the productive parameters for the poultry industry.

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