Broilers health and nutrition

The current needs to improve food safety and reduce antibiotics in poultry farming exhort for the control of following key parameters: immune modulation, improved vaccine response, gut integrity, and pathogen control, in order to monitor good profitability and sustainability while preserving animal welfare.

Genetic selection has enabled the poultry sector to achieve heavier broilers. Birds have been selected for their capacity to grow, but also for a higher feed intake. Meanwhile, 70% of the birds’ immune system capacity is concentrated around or inside the gut, i.e. Gut associated lymphoid tissue (GALT), Peyer patches, spleen, liver, Fabricius bursa. It is thus essential to maintain the bird’s gut health which impacts the bird’s immune status, in the face of the different challenges and violations of the digestion and the absorption of the birds.

The industry has also explored the potential inclusion of yeast-based products in feeding rations to boost birds’ natural defences. Yeast fractions such as Safmannan^® are known to positively influence gut microflora, gut morphology and immunity.

When it comes to reduce antibiotics, “prevention” is the key word for the future of animal production: good farm management, high level of biosecurity and high feed quality are required to prevent physiological disorders and to make birds healthier, more resistant and therefore less likely to require antibiotics. Bacteria probiotics and yeast solutions are playing a growing role for reduction of antibiotics in the poultry industry.

Salmonella contamination is one of the most important food safety issues when it comes to poultry production. Salmonella is responsible for over 91,000 foodborne illnesses in Europe and approximately 1 million in the U.S. every year. Salmonellosis is the second most reported gastrointestinal infection caused by a foodborne pathogen after campylobacteriosis, and the highest levels of Salmonella-positive samples come from poultry.

To decrease foodborne illness caused by poultry meat, or eggs, Phileo provides effective solutions, such as Program Salmo-control, to prevent Salmonella contamination risks.

Heat stress has adverse consequences on meat quality. Preslaughter heat stress accelerates an onset of rigor mortis, reduces water holding ability and increases paleness in poultry meat. This results in substandard products that are poorly received by consumers. Nutrition is the main factor in the management of heat stress in broilers. Safmannan^® is key to advanced heat stress management in broilers.

By protecting gut integrity, reducing translocation of bacterial pathogens and limiting production of proinflammatory cytokines, Safmannan^® can mitigate the detrimental effects of heat stress in broilers, maintaining bird growth performance and survival under heat stress conditions.