Saleem, Gulbeena (2013) Necrotic Enteritis, Disease Induction, Predisposing Factors and Novel Biochemical Markers in Broilers Chickens
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Saleem, Gulbeena (2013) Necrotic enteritis, disease induction, predisposing factors and novel biochemical markers in broilers chickens. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/4372/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Necrotic Enteritis, disease induction, predisposing factors and novel biochemical markers in broiler chickens BY GULBEENA SALEEM Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) M.Sc. (with honours) Veterinary Pathology A thesis is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, at the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow Research conducted at the Avian Science Research Centre Scottish Agricultural College, Ayr November 2012 © Gulbeena Saleem 2 ABSTRACT Necrotic enteritis (NE) is an important enteric disease in poultry production that has re-emerged as a major problem following an EU wide ban on the use of in-feed antimicrobials. Although the primary aetiological agent of disease is Clostridium perfringens type A, a commensal in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of chickens, numerous additional influential factors have been reported that can predispose chickens to NE. These precipitating factors mainly include diet, co-infection with other pathogens particularly coccidia, as well as environmental and management factors. Despite being first described almost more than 50 years ago, a reliable, consistently reproducible experimental model for NE induction is still lacking. Here, a series of experiments were conducted to investigate the importance of the various potential predisposing factors, in isolation and in combination, that are believed to play a role in sub-clinical NE development: feed withdrawal, dietary protein sources, co- infection with coccidia, C. perfringens dose and contact with reused litter. In addition, chicken breed sensitivity to NE was assessed, and last, but not least, blood and gut tissue samples were used to identify novel biochemical markers for sub-clinical NE. Chapter 3 reports an experiment showing that feed withdrawal up to 24 hrs in experimentally challenged birds did not result in NE specific lesions. Chapter 4 shows that replacing dietary soyabean meal with potato protein concentrate or canola meal or adding synthetic trypsin inhibitor to the soyabean meal control diet did not induce sub-clinical NE in birds housed on reused litter, a natural source of C. perfringens challenge. Chapter 5 describes that in vitro growth of C. perfringens on in vitro digested grower diets was prolonged following the addition of fishmeal, suggesting that the role of fish meal as a predisposing factor for in vivo sub-clinical NE cannot be excluded. All subsequent diets therefore contained high levels of fish meal. When this was used in combination with high dose of coccidial vaccine, a repeated in-feed challenge for three days at 102 colony forming units (cfu) C. perfringens per g feed did not result in sub-clinical NE, though at 109 cfu/g resulted in 10% of challenged birds (3 out of 30) showing NE-specific lesions (Chapter 6). Further study is needed to determine if the two Ross birds with gross NE lesions compared to the one Hubbard bird (out of 15 birds each) was due to a lower level of NE resistance. 3 The failure to significantly induce sub-clinical NE in the previous experiments suggests that challenging the birds with C. perfringens in the isolated presence of suspected predisposing factors may not provide a suitable experimental model. Indeed, when birds were dosed twice daily with 108 cfu C. perfringens for three days in the presence of high levels of fishmeal, canola meal as main protein source, coccidial and IBD vaccinations, and feed withdrawal prior to challenge, 40.6% of the challenged birds developed lesions of sub- clinical NE without inducing mortality (Chapter 7). This concurred with reduced growth performance relative to the sham-infected control birds, and thus is a successful model for induction of sub-clinical NE. Finally this work has, for the first time provided novel information on potential biomarkers (Chapter 8). Whilst challenge did not impact on the expression of genes previously shown to be differentially expressed upon C. perfringens toxin exposure, the serum ceruloplasmin concentration increased, suggesting that monitoring this acute phase protein may indicate the presence of C. perfringens infection in poultry. However, as such markers generally lack specificity, further research confirming its role in response to sub- clinical NE is needed to provide a fully effective diagnostic and prognostic marker for flock health and welfare, as well as ultimately helping to gain better understanding of the pathophysiology of sub-clinical NE. Improved knowledge of the effect of different dietary components on the growth of C. perfringens may help in the formulation of broiler diets to assist in further reducing the incidence of NE particularly in the absence of antimicrobial growth promoters. It is hoped that host responses in terms of acute phase proteins, and possibley gene expression, will also provide greater insight into the pathogenesis of NE. Provided that the developed experimental sub-clinical NE model is reproducible, this will benefit the understanding of this billion dollar disease and enable further investigation of various chemical and non- chemical interventions to reduce its severity and impact on poultry production. 4 DECLARATION This thesis has been composed by myself and is a record of work carried out in an original line of research, except where due reference is made to the contribution of others. All such sources of information are again listed in the reference section. All help provided during my work is sincerely appreciated and appropriately acknowledged. None of the work has been presented in any previous degree application. Gulbeena Saleem November, 2012 5 PUBLICATION Part of the work reported in this thesis has been communicated in different conference meetings: Saleem G., N. Sparks, J. Houdijk and V. Pirgozliev (2012) Interactive effects of diet composition and litter quality on growth performance and incidence of sub-clinical necrotic enteritis in broiler chickens British Poultry Abstracts pp 7, Vol 8, Number 1, August, 2012. Saleem G., N. Sparks, J. Houdijk and V. Pirgozliev (2012) Effect of canola meal and litter condition on gut health. British Poultry Abstracts pp 18, Vol 8, Number 1, August, 2012. Saleem G., N. Sparks, J. Houdijk and V. Pirgozliev (2011) Experimental induction of sub- clinical necrotic enteritis in broiler chickens. British Poultry Abstracts pp 58, Vol 7, Number 1, August, 2012. Saleem G., N. Sparks, J. Houdijk and V. Pirgozliev (2011) Proliferation of Clostridium perfringens on in vitro digested poultry feed with and without fish meal Proceedings of 18th European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition, pp. 778-780, Turkey. Saleem G., N. Sparks., J. Houdijk., T. Acamovic and V. Pirgozliev (2011) Does feed withdrawal assist experimental induction of sub-clinical necrotic enteritis in broiler chickens? British Poultry Abstracts pp 4, Vol 7, Number 1, August, 2011. Publication that does not form an integral part of the thesis per se, but is related to the main subject of the thesis is mentioned below as evidence of additional work: Saleem G., N. Sparks, V. Pirgozliev, T. Acamovic, J. Houdijk, J. Wiseman, A. Peron, J. Snape (2010) “Effect of wheat cultivar, type and xylanase supplementation on growth performance and gut microflora of broilers” Book of Abstracts, XIIIth European Poultry Conference, pp 375. AWARDS During my PhD studies, I have received the following awards and travel grants: Travel grant to present an oral paper at 18th European Poultry Conference, 2011 Izmir Turkey. Highly commended in British Council Shine International Student Awards. Represented SAC at Science for Life Inter-institute Competition (2011). Internal SAC award for best presentation at SAC post- graduate conference, Edinburgh (2011). Invitation, by the organizing committee, to attend EPC 2010 in Tours, France as well as to participate in the Youth Programme of conference. Overseas research student Award (ORSAS), University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK. 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT All praises and thanks to Almighty Allah and beloved prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH). I wish to acknowledge many people who have made this thesis an achievable reality. Dr Jos. Houdijk for his precious supervision, endless support, kind understanding and moral encouragement. I am grateful for the opportunity both to learn how to improve my scientific writing and presentation skills. His contributions and advice to my thesis have been invaluable. Professor Dr. Nicholas Sparks for his endless patience and understanding with the numerous problems encountered throughout my research. I am truly grateful for his support, guidance and insight during my tenure at SAC’s Avian Science Research Centre (ASRC). Professor Dr. David Eckersall for all the support provided during acute phase protein analysis and for assistance with Glasgow University matters. The late Dr. Tom Acamovic was a naturally joyful human being whose contact with others extended his joy to their lives. He is surely missed as a joyful, supportive and ultimate professional human being. Dr. Spiridoula Athanasiadou for all the help and kind guidance with gene work both practical and theoretical, that enabled me to do gene expression analysis. Dr. Tombermont from University of Ghent for kindly providing the strain 56 of C. perfringens without which this research would not have been possible. Dr. Tom Pennycott for the knowledge and expertise he shared with me on post-mortem and histopathological examination.