Campylobacteriosis is among the most common bacterial infections in humans: in the EU alone, the number of cases per year is estimated to be around 9 million. Knowing that the disease is often linked to the consumption of contaminated poultry meat, it is significant that in a recent EU baseline survey, the average prevalence of Campylobacter in broilers and on carcasses was found to be 71% and 76%, respectively.
As a reduction of Campylobacter counts in the broiler caeca by 2 log10 units is estimated to reduce human campylobacteriosis cases by 75-90%, the EU has funded CAMPYBRO, a project aiming at investigating strategies to control Campylobacter in broiler flocks. It is supported by two research institutes (ANSES in France, and IMASDE in Spain), five poultry producer associations that cover 35% of broiler production in EU-27 (PROPOLLO, FIA, CIDEF, NEPLUVI and BTT) and 3 SME’s (MIKROLAB, REDONDO and CZV).
“An extensive study was set up, in which broilers were orally infected with Campylobacter jejuni and were fed one of 24 feed additives, including Nutriad’s fat-coated butyrate product, ADIMIX®Precision”, says Dr. Tim Goossens, business development manager Digestive Performance at Nutriad. “Subsequent analysis showed that only two treatments were linked to a significant reduction in mean caeca Campylobacter counts at all sampling moments: ADIMIX Precision, included at 3 kg/T, and a mixture of C8- and C10-monoglycerides, included at 8 kg/T. Of these 2 products, a 2 log10 reduction at day 42 was only observed for ADIMIXPrecision”.
“These results are in line with previous experiments where broilers were infected with Campylobacter and supplemented ADIMIX Precision,” Dr. Goossens continues. “However, we should be careful not to position this product as an ‘anti-Campylobacter additive’. These type of institute trials show that caecal Campylobacter counts can vary a lot, even among birds of the same treatment, making it more difficult for customers to evaluate the effect of additives on Campylobacter in a commercial setting. Rather, these results demonstrate that, on top of improving gut health and zootechnical performance, ADIMIX Precision can have an additional role in a complete Campylobacter control program. And perhaps more importantly: for butyrate to have an effect on Campylobacter in vivo, it needs to be delivered in the hindgut, where Campylobacter resides. The results of the study therefore add even more evidence to the superior quality of the precision delivery coating of ADIMIX Precision”.
More details can be found in the published papers: Gracia et al. and Guyard-Nicodeme et al.; Poultry Science; online publication: Dec 25, 2015.
