Effect of Fermented Products Produced by Bacillus Licheniformis on the Growth Performance and Cecal Microbial Community of Broilers Under Coccidial Challenge
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animals Article Effect of Fermented Products Produced by Bacillus licheniformis on the Growth Performance and Cecal Microbial Community of Broilers under Coccidial Challenge Yeong-Hsiang Cheng 1 , Yi-Bing Horng 1, Wei-Jung Chen 1 , Kuo-Feng Hua 1, Andrzej Dybus 2 and Yu-Hsiang Yu 1,* 1 Department of Biotechnology and Animal Science, National Ilan University, Yilan 26047, Taiwan; [email protected] (Y.-H.C.); [email protected] (Y.-B.H.); [email protected] (W.-J.C.); [email protected] (K.-F.H.) 2 Department of Genetics, West Pomeranian University of Technology, 70-310 Szczecin, Poland; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +886-3-931-7716 Simple Summary: Coccidiosis is a severe parasitic disease of poultry caused by parasites of the genus Eimeria. Eimeria species infection disrupts the intestinal microbiota of broilers, thereby reducing gut health and growth performance. Continuous use of anti-coccidial drugs leads to the selection of drug-resistant strains of Eimeria. Therefore, developing substitutes for anti-coccidial drugs is an urgent, unmet need. Fermented products produced by Bacillus licheniformis containing probiotics and antimicrobial peptides can modulate the gut microbiota of broilers. However, little is known about the effect of fermented products produced by B. licheniformis on the health, growth, and gut Citation: Cheng, Y.-H.; Horng, Y.-B.; microbial community of broilers exposed to coccidial challenge. In this study, the anti-coccidial and Chen, W.-J.; Hua, K.-F.; Dybus, A.; Yu, gut microbiota modulatory effect of fermented products produced by B. licheniformis on broilers was Y.-H. Effect of Fermented Products evaluated. Results showed that Bacillus licheniformis-fermented product supplementation improved Produced by Bacillus licheniformis on average daily gain at 21 to 35 days of age and regulated the cecal microbial community of broilers the Growth Performance and Cecal exposed to coccidial challenge compared with coccidial challenge alone group. Microbial Community of Broilers under Coccidial Challenge. Animals Abstract: This study investigated the effects of fermented products produced by Bacillus licheniformis 2021, 11, 1245. https://doi.org/ (fermented products) on the growth performance and cecal microbial community in broilers exposed 10.3390/ani11051245 to coccidial challenge. A total of 108 one-day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly allotted to one of three treatments. Each treatment was distributed into six replicate cages with six Academic Editor: Md Zohorul Islam birds each. The treatments consisted of a basal diet without treatment (NC), basal diet plus coccidial Received: 19 March 2021 challenge (PC), and basal diet plus the coccidial challenge and 1 g/kg of fermented products (FP). The Accepted: 23 April 2021 results indicated that FP increased the average daily gain of broilers at 21 to 35 days of age compared Published: 26 April 2021 with the PC group (p < 0.05). The anti-coccidia index in the FP group was elevated compared with the PC group (p < 0.05). Principal coordinate analysis showed significant segregation in bacterial Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral community composition in the cecal digesta among the groups. The genus Lactobacillus was more with regard to jurisdictional claims in abundant in the cecal digesta of the FP group compared with the PC group (p < 0.05). There was a published maps and institutional affil- positive correlation between the abundance of the genus Lactobacillus in the cecal digesta and growth iations. performance (body weight, average daily gain, and average feed intake). Furthermore, the abundance of the genus Lactobacillus in the cecal digesta was positively associated with the cecal short-chain fatty acid levels (formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, and isobutyric acid). These findings suggest that fermented products produced by B. licheniformis can ameliorate the average daily gain of Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. broilers exposed to coccidial challenge. B. licheniformis-fermented product supplementation increases Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. anti-coccidial activity and modulates gut microbiota composition by increasing beneficial microbes This article is an open access article and decreasing harmful microbes in broilers under coccidial challenge. distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Keywords: Bacillus licheniformis; broiler; coccidiosis; fermented product; microbial community Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). Animals 2021, 11, 1245. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11051245 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/animals Animals 2021, 11, 1245 2 of 17 1. Introduction Coccidiosis is a severe enteric disease in poultry caused mainly by protozoa from the Eimeria genus. Coccidiosis costs the poultry industry about 3 billion US dollars annually worldwide due to high mortality, impaired growth, and high medical costs [1]. Anti- coccidial drugs have been widely used to control coccidiosis, but drug resistance of Eimeria species in chickens has become prevalent worldwide. Because of the disadvantages of current anti-coccidial drugs and vaccines [2], alternative strategies to prevent coccidiosis in broilers are an urgent and unmet need in the poultry industry. Several natural products, such as medicinal plants, herbal extracts, essential oils, organic acids, and probiotics, have been reported to have beneficial effects for the prevention of coccidiosis [3–8]. Bacillus licheniformis, a Gram-positive endospore-forming probiotic, has either been observed or isolated from the digestive tract of broilers [6]. Dietary supplementation with B. licheniformis ameliorates the growth performance and relieves necrotic enteritis caused by Clostridium perfringens in broilers [9–11]. However, the beneficial effects of B. licheniformis as probiotics in broilers infected with coccidian parasites are still limited. Only one study reported that B. licheniformis can improve body weight gain, intestinal lesion score, and fecal oocysts in broilers challenged with mixed coccidia infection [12]. The underlying mechanisms of how B. licheniformis prevents coccidiosis of broilers are still unclear. The commercial feed additive of B. licheniformis is mainly produced by liquid-state fermentation and fermented products (B. licheniformis spores only, without functional metabolites) are then directly mixed into the diet. Compared with liquid-state fermen- tation, our previous study demonstrated that B. licheniformis can be produced by solid- state fermentation. Fermented products contain B. licheniformis spores and functional metabolites (antimicrobial cyclic lipopeptide) [13]. Furthermore, B. licheniformis-fermented products also display antimicrobial activity against C. perfringens and Brachyspira hyodysen- teriae in vitro [13,14]. Dietary supplementation with fermented products produced by B. licheniformis can ameliorate growth performance, alleviate necrotic lesions, and improve intestinal morphology in broilers exposed to C. perfringens challenge [15,16]. In addition, fermented products also modulate intestinal bacterial composition in broilers [15]. It has been reported that Eimeria tenella infection induces perturbation of the cecal microbiota in different strains of broilers by elevating pathogenic bacteria abundance and reducing beneficial bacteria abundance [17,18]. Therefore, based on our previous studies, we hypothesize that fermented products might alleviate coccidiosis by normalizing the cecal microbiota composition of broilers. The specific objectives of the present study were to investigate the effects of fermented products produced by B. licheniformis on growth performance and cecal microbial commu- nity in broilers exposed to coccidial challenge. The findings provide a basis for the use of B. licheniformis-fermented products as a possible method for preventing coccidia in poultry. 2. Materials and Methods The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of National Ilan University re- viewed and approved the animal protocol for the current study (IACUC, protocol number 107-12). 2.1. Experimental Design The fermented products were produced in our previous study and the concentration of B. licheniformis and B. licheniformis-derived antimicrobial cyclic lipopeptide (surfactin) in fermented products were 5 × 1011 CFU/g and 10 mg/g, respectively [16]. A total of 108 one-day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) obtained from a local commercial hatchery with an average body weight of 43.96 ± 0.05 g were randomly allotted to one of three treatments in a completely randomized design. Each treatment was distributed into six replicate cages with six birds each. Broilers were reared in stainless-steel, temperature- controlled cages (190 cm × 50 cm × 35 cm). Animals 2021, 11, 1245 3 of 17 The treatments consisted of (1) basal diet without treatment (NC), (2) basal diet plus coccidial challenge (PC), and (3) basal diet plus the coccidial challenge and 1 g/kg of fermented products (FP). The experimental diets were formulated to meet or exceed the requirements of birds according to National Research Council recommendations (Nutrient Requirements for Poultry, 1994, Table1). In the FP group, the soybean meal in the basal diet was replaced with fermented products equally. No coccidiostats and antibiotics were included in the diets. The broilers were on the test diets from 1 to 35 days of age. The feeding program had two phases that spanned days 1–20 and days 21–35.