Dietary supplements design for the poultry industry

APELLA M. C.; HIDALGO V.M.; GULTEMIRIAN M. DE L.; AUDISIO M. C.; ARGAÑARAZ MARTÍNEZ E.; PEREZ CHAIA A.

San Miguel de Tucumán

Simposio; III Internacional Symposium on Lactic Acid Bacteria and III Argentinean LAB Net Meeting. Panelista de Session III (Chair: Perdigón G.); 2009

CONICET, ANCyT, Ministerio de Salud Pública, SIDETEC-Tucumán

The poultry industry is one of the agricultural areas of highest growth in Argentina. Its progress depends to a great extent not only on infection control but also on very good nutritional quality of low cost meat proteins and eggs that make up the human diet. For the activity to be profitable, it is essential that birds reach their body weight quickly and healthily. These last few years investigations have focused on the problem of recognition, treatment and/or prevention of Salmonella infections, cause of great economic loss for the poultry industry and a potential risk for human health. Antibiotics, mixed bacterial cultures not completely defined (Nurmi concept), and cultures of one or more strains with known probiotic properties have been some of the numerous attempts carried out to control infections provoked by this pathogen. Nevertheless, until now, full eradication of avian salmonellosis has been unsuccessful. Therefore, our investigations have specifically been aimed at designing dietary supplements such as probiotics, prebiotic carbohydrates or a combination of both (synbiotics) to improve bird health and product quality. The design of these supplements implies an increase of value added. For this reason, the design of the so-called functional foods requires selection studies that include their effect on the functions for which they were formulated. Our studies were directed to the evaluation of physiological, functional and technological properties of lactic acid bacteria strains, isolated from birds gastrointestinal tract, with probiotic potential. We also wanted to determine if these properties suffered any modification in presence of natural or synthetic dietary carbohydrates. These studies were carried out to formulate a dietary supplement that would reinforce the intestinal barrier structure and function to avoid colonization and translocation by Salmonella and to improve avian performance. Another aspect of interest was the influence of carbohydrates in meat and egg mineral incorporation that would improve their nutritional quality. This arises from the hypothesis that short chain fatty acids (SCFA), product of carbohydrate fermentation by cecal intestinal microbiota, promote cation absorption. In vitro studies of ionic transepithelial flux driven by SCFA showed a direct dependence between Fe2+ or Ca2+ concentration transported and SCFA type and level. These studies present a new approach to the problem of finding poultry raising alternatives that ensure animal health and profitability.