Gut health of poultry in the post-antibiotic era: elucidating the mechanisms underlying successful feed supplements

The ban on antibiotic growth promoters and ever rising feed costs has left the poultry industry continually striving to improve bird health and welfare whilst maintaining efficiency. A range of natural solutions has been developed by Alltech to address these issues but there is currently limited understanding of how each solution may work. Many other products have also been launched into the poultry industry but this has resulted in huge variation in commercial product efficacy and left the industry without consensus on which direction to pursue. The aim of this project is to increase understanding of how non-antibiotic feed supplements support gut health in poultry. Whilst routine inclusion of antibiotics in poultry feed is banned, prescribed antibiotics are still frequently required to combat outbreaks of gut-related disease. By understanding the mechanisms underlying the action of novel non-antibiotic feed supplements, it will be possible to increase their efficacy and thereby reduce incidence of disease outbreaks requiring antibiotic treatment and concurrently improve bird welfare and efficient feed conversion. An understanding of why some antibiotic alternatives work and some do not is the holy grail of the UK poultry industry. There is a growing realisation that post-hatch gut development and immune function are key factors influencing bird health in later life. The project would encompass a series of trials using newly hatched chicks studying products recently developed to promote gut health. The objective of these trials would be to study how feed supplements are influencing the development and, ultimately, growth of broiler chickens. The main parameters measured would include immune function, bird uniformity, digestibility of diets, gut morphology and microbial diversity throughout development and gut specific responses in gene expression patterns using molecular techniques. This would involve drawing on the wealth of diverse biological science expertise at Nottingham Trent University and Alltech (UK) and integrating it towards a new application: understanding how to promote gut health in poultry.