Lactic Acid Probiotic Influence on Salmonella Enteritidis Infection in Broiler Chickens

The ability of lactic acid bacteria probiotic culture (LAB) to reduce Salmonella Enteritidis in day old broiler chicks was evaluated. In these experiments, chicks were challenged with Salmonella Enteritidis and treated with LAB one hour post-challenge. Following the treatment, cecal tonsils and ceca were aseptically collected for Salmonella Enteritidis enrichment and Salmonella Enteritidis enumeration, respectively. In experiments 1 to 3 , LAB significantly reduced the incidence of Salmonella Enteritidis (65 to 70% reductions) in the cecal tonsils of day old broiler chicks 24 h following treatments as compared with controls (p 2.9 log 10 reduction of total cecal Salmonella Enteritidis recovered 24 h following treatment as compared with controls (p<0.05). In experiments 4 to 7, upon sample enrichment, LAB significantly reduced the recovery of Salmonella Enteritidis from the cecal tonsils at 24 hours, but not 6 or 12 hours post-treatment (p<0.05). However, in experiments 6 and 7, when total cecal Salmonella Enteritidis recovery was enumerated, a significant treatment reduction was observed 12 hours post-treatment, although in cecal tonsil samples, there was no difference in Salmonella Enteritidis incidence at 12 hours (p<0.05).