How do poultry probiotics benefit flock health and production?
Poultry probiotics are 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 poultry probiotics have grown in popularity in recent years in response to the drive to reduce antibiotic use on-farm.
“Although poultry 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 health and a more robust immune system.”
How do poultry probiotics work?
The key differences between poultry probiotics and antibiotics are the time in which they take to work, and their mode of action.
“The response to health challenges with inclusion of poultry probiotics is slower because we’re using them to promote beneficial bacterial growth in the gut, and outcompete or overgrow the undesirable bacteria,” explains Mr Ball.
“When using antibiotics to strip out a large proportion of undesirable bacteria from the bird, unfortunately, we also end up removing some of the beneficial bacteria in the gut.
“This slower response means producers wishing to introduce poultry probiotics to their system need to get better at identifying issues sooner.”
Allan Ball, Slate Hall
How can monitoring tools help?
Mr 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 health changes or flock health deteriorates, you’ll see that coming through in the litter condition later.”
Mr Ball says 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.
How do I choose the best poultry probiotic for my flock?
Poultry 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 health and help break down dietary fibre and protein into more digestible components, assists with increasing energy and nutrient availability for birds,” explains Mr Ball.
This will have a direct impact on poultry production outcomes such as:
- Improved Bird Mortality
- Increased Bird Bodyweight
- Reduced Broiler 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 Entrococcus. Cecorum - highlighting how strain selection is vital to address different challenges.”
Different modes of action
Different poultry probiotic strains have different modes of action – some are gut colonisers and some are non-colonisers.
Mr Ball explains the difference between the two:
- Gut colonisers: these work by creating a beneficial biofilm to exert positive effects on bird gut health exactly where they are needed. They tend to work over a longer period of time by successfully colonising and forming beneficial bacteria in a healthy proportion of the gut microbiome.
- Non-colonisers: these tend to pass through the gut very quickly to address a specific short-term challenge to bird gut health.
What else do I need to consider with poultry probiotics?
In all instances, Mr Ball advises producers to research the poultry probiotics they intend to use and make sure they select a product that is:
- Science-backed
- Heat stable
- Commercially 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 poultry 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 says producers also need to make sure that any in-feed poultry probiotic, such as GALLIPRO FIT®, has scientific data to support its heat stability, ensuring the beneficial 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, Mr Ball says producers looking to introduce poultry 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.
Learn more about GALLIPRO FIT and enhance your poultry operation's profitability:
GALLIPRO® FIT, a product of Novonesis, distributed by Elanco Animal Health. Elanco™ and the diagonal bar are trademarks of Elanco or its affiliates.
