Antibiotics are used in poultry production, mainly to improve gut health and performance. However, owing to growing concerns about the use of medically important antibiotics in livestock production and the associated challenges, poultry producers need effective holistic approaches including – management and nutrition – to support antibiotic stewardship. Currently, several dietary measures are taken to promote animal health in poultry production. Among these, an emerging group being included in holistic approaches that shows promise in improving gut health and host defense is postbiotics.
Poultry Technology Lead – Postbiotics
Cargill
Poultry production plays a paramount role in ensuring food security for the current global population. Amidst the forecasted growth and potential shifts in demographics of global human population, the industry needs to produce more utilizing limited resources, without becoming over depending on antibiotics/chemicals to meet consumer needs. To achieve this goal, live production needs to be optimized with respect to animal performance, nutrition, and management to get the maximum use of resources without wastage. Nutrition/feed accounts for about 70% of poultry production costs. Because the animal gut is the primary organ which utilizes feed, it’s no wonder why gut health has been a major focus for the poultry industry over the past few decades. The future of the poultry industry depends largely on applying scientific knowledge and modern tools to support gut health and effective utilization of nutrients for sustainable production.
IMPORTANCE OF GUT HEALTH
A healthy gut is vital for the proper digestion and absorption of nutrients. In addition, the gut is critical for the animal to survive the stressors to which the body is exposed to throughout the gastrointestinal tract, and in maintaining homeostasis. Developmental stages and immune status of the bird, the quality of feed ingredients, changes in feeding phases, environmental stressors, management, and pathogens are some of the things that can disrupt homeostasis and affect gut health (Figure 1). Maintaining the integrity of gut tissue, nourishing a healthy microbiome, along with supporting an effective immune system are the main components to a healthy gut. From an animal production perspective, gut health is closely related to animal performance, welfare, and food safety.
Antibiotics are used in poultry production, mainly to improve gut health and performance. However, owing to growing concerns about the use of medically important antibiotics in livestock production and the associated challenges, poultry producers need effective holistic approaches including – management and nutrition – to support antibiotic stewardship. Currently, several dietary measures are taken to promote animal health in poultry production. Among these, an emerging group being included in holistic approaches that shows promise in improving gut health and host defense is postbiotics.
WHAT ARE POSTBIOTICS?
According to the International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP), postbiotics are defined as, “a preparation of inanimate microorganisms and/or their components that confer a health benefit on the host”. Postbiotics are the output of a controlled fermentation which can contain various biologically active substances such as proteins, small peptides, oligosaccharides, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and other undefined metabolites (Figure 2). Fermentation is a complex process where the output can vary based on the microorganisms, substrate, and environmental conditions involved in the process. So, an in depth understanding of the process is necessary to ensure the consistent composition and benefits from the product. The advantages of postbiotics over pre- and probiotics are that postbiotics have little dependency on further in vivo utilization of the product to have an effect on the host. Additionally, a postbiotic can maintain stability across industrial feed processing and long-term storage, making it more available to the animal. Moreover, a postbiotic product with nothing filtered out or isolated can be quite intricate, which makes it unique from single or few-compound feed additives.
BENEFITS OF POSTBIOTIC IN POULTRY GUT HEALTH
Several postbiotic products are used in different animals, including humans, because of their potential benefits such as anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, immunomodulatory, anticarcinogenic, antioxidant, antihypertensive, antiproliferative, and hypocholesterolemic properties. Among these postbiotic products, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation product (SCFP) is a major category used in livestock, including poultry. Scientific studies have reported that dietary inclusion of SCFP resulted in improved body weight, feed conversion ratio, and meat yield in broilers and turkeys, and improved egg weight, yolk weight, and hatchability in layers/breeders. One of the modes of action of SCFP is through modulating immunity, especially by priming the innate immune response to have an effective accelerated adaptive immune response with an improved humoral response to antigens/vaccines and cellular immune responses to diseases such as coccidiosis. Another benefit of SCFP is supporting the alleviation/recovery from the stress responses in animals exposed to heat stress, normal rearing stress, infections etc., which could have adverse effects on gut health. Postbiotics have been shown to be beneficial in modulating the gut microbiome shift towards a more beneficial bacterial population and lowering pathogenic and/or food safety-related populations such as Salmonella and Campylobacter. Furthermore, studies have shown the administration of postbiotics improves gut integrity, resulting in nutrient utilization and supporting production performance in poultry.
SUMMARY
Future increase in global population and shifts in eating habits will increase the demand for poultry products to ensure food safety. However, the industry will be challenged with meeting the demands in a more sustainable way with respect to environment, economy, and social aspects. Applying scientific knowledge and modern tools, to optimize gut health and poultry production is critical for the long-term success of the industry. Postbiotics, especially SCFP, are a promising tool for poultry producers to help meet consumer expectations and ensuring global food security sustainably. The dual action of SCFP in promoting gut health by maintaining immune strength and optimizing digestive health can effectively support performance, animal welfare, and food safety aspects in antibiotic free poultry production (Figure 3).
About Vivek Kuttappan
Vivek Kuttappan, Ph.D., is a Poultry Technology Lead at Cargill, Inc. that supports the animal agriculture industry through unparalleled research capabilities, innovative feed and premix products and services, and digital modeling and formulation solutions. Throughout his career, Dr. Kuttappan has provided valuable contributions to the poultry industry in two specific areas:1) broiler meat quality, reducing poultry carcass quality defects such as myopathies, and 2) poultry gut health, improving gut health in broilers, thereby reducing economic losses to poultry producers. Dr. Kuttappan holds a patent for a novel molecule to improve gut health in broilers and has participated in approximately 100 scientific publications, including 40 peer-reviewed journal articles cited by researchers worldwide. He has received several awards for his research, including the prestigious PSA Early Achievement Award for Industry. As a subject expert in solving poultry meat quality challenges, he has served as an invited speaker in the industry as well as in academia. Dr. Kuttappan continues to collaborate with academia to solve gut health threats in antibiotic-free production as a research partner in various projects investigating non-antibiotic feed additive strategies to mitigate health challenges and improve poultry production performance. He has been an active member of the Poultry Science Association since 2009 and currently serves as the Chair of the PSA Committee on Industry Relations to propose how the Poultry Science Association can support, fund, or create projects, plans, and actions to fulfill potential needs and initiatives within the sector of industry relations. He is also an editorial board member and reviewer for several scientific journals. Dr. Kuttappan received his doctorate in poultry science from the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science, University of Arkansas, and a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in veterinary science from Kerala Agricultural University, India.
