February 20, 2008

Probiotic shown to reduce salmonella in poultry
 

It might be better to encourage the growth of bacteria in poultry rather than to kill them off with antibiotics, according to research from Arkansas University.

Experiments show that administration of probiotics can reduce salmonella in poultry, therefore reducing the risk of cross contamination at the processing plant.

The probiotic, whose term is FM-B11, is developed in the lab of Billy Hargis, director of the Poultry Health Research Laboratory at the University of Arkansas System¡¯s Division of Agriculture.

The probiotic is also known as a defined lactic acid bacterial culture, which could eliminate the risk of pathogenic existence within the culture, clearing the way for their effectiveness in stopping salmonella in poultry.

Hargis explained that the probiotics are live organisms that can be cheaply produced, thus keeping treatment costs low.

The low cost is partly because the probiotics come from a defined culture that is oxygen-tolerant, which avoids the high cost required for non-tolerant cultures.

With consumers taking a negative view of antibiotic use on chickens, the industry has moved towards exploring probiotics in chicken feed. 

Probiotics serve as microbial feed supplements for animals to improve their intestinal microbial balance. Hargis and his research group took the lactobacillus probiotic, a form of milk bacteria found in birds, and added it to poultry water or feed.

Last year, tests were focused on identifying organisms of a genus called Bacillus, which inhibits certain pathogenic organisms and is able to produce heat or storage-resistant spores.

These efforts are meant to assist the development of effective probiotics that can be added to feed, which could greatly reduce costs associated with delivery in the farm's drinking water.

Probiotics is extremely advantageous as it is within the feed itself, which means administration is simple and continuous. Moreover, they are also able to maintain its stability during the pelleting process, Hargis said.