Disease prevention demands a global approach to understanding pathogen contamination and the application of on-farm cleaning and disinfection procedures. Biosecurity is vital. Phileo by Lesaffre has developed solutions to boost birds’ disease resistance, complementing existing measures.
Safmannan®, a premium yeast parietal fraction, rich in mannans and beta-glucans 1.3 and 1.6, helps maintain good gut integrity, preventing pathogenic bacteria contamination (such as E.coli, Salmonella and Clostridium). It also helps improve immune system functioning and birds’ response to vaccines.
when beta-glucans 1.3 and 1.6 are given to an organism they trigger receptors on innate immune cells called phagocytes. Named Dectin 1, these receptors recognise the beta-glucan, resulting in an immune activation of the phagocytes, which produces cytokines. The Dectin 1/beta-glucan interaction induces a trained immunity or innate immune memory in the phagocytes. The mechanisms leading to the innate memory are different from those used to develop the adaptive memory. The terms trained immunity or innate immune memory define the enhanced state of innate immune responses, induced by exposure to certain vaccines, microbial components or metabolites. This results in an increased response to secondary unrelated infections, an increase in pro-inflammatory responses and an enhanced capacity to eliminate infection.
Shahir et al. 2013, published trial results proving how Safmannan® can help preserve antibody titers in vaccinated laying hens. Birds were placed in a farm for the rearing period from D0 to 20 weeks of age. They were all vaccinated according to the same vaccination plan, including Newcastle disease (ND) and low pathogenic avian Influenza (LPAI). From weeks 33-44, half the hens were given feed supplemented with Safmannan® at 500 g/T
As the last vaccination was done 27 weeks before the blood sample and 16 weeks before Safmannan® supplementation started, the vaccine response was completed before supplementation began. During egg production, antibody titers decreased continuously. In the trial, Safmannan® helped reduce the speed of antibody titers decrease. This can help hens, in the face of genetic evolution which makes the egg production period longer, driven by the objective of producing 500 eggs per hen at 100 weeks old.
Phileo by Lesaffre has also developed a yeast beta-glucan product, in which beta-glucans 1.3 and 1.6 are purified, reaching more than 50% of the composition of the product. Its immune system activity is more targeted, while Safmannan® has a broader effect. yeast beta-glucans are used at 125g/T during the second half of the rearing period, to boost vaccine response, creating the highest possible antibody peak when layers arrive at egg production sites.
Safmannan® can help improve the resistance of birds naturally contaminated with wild pathogens, and like yeast beta-glucans, can help improve the protection of birds after vaccination. When birds are contaminated with viruses, both products can reduce the spread of the virus, reducing the quantity and the duration of virus excretion by infected birds.