Abstract:
Lactobacilli, like the other gut commensal bacteria
, are well known for their use in
poultry nutrition and for their probiotic propertie
s. However, little is known about their
interaction with the gastro-intestinal tract when a
dministered
in vivo
. To specifically
monitor the passage of lactobacilli after administe
red in hatchery,
Lactobacillus
plantarum
was transformed with the recombinant vector pLEM41
5::gfp. A total of 200
one-day old chicks (ROSS 308) were assigned to five
experimental groups including the
control and four in-hatchery probiotic administrati
on method groups comprised of
in ovo
injection, oral gavage, spray, and vent lip applica
tion. At 0, 4, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours
post-probiotic administration, 6 chicks were sacrif
iced from each group. Adhered
bacteria were sampled from intestinal sections. Pol
ymerize chain reaction (PCR) was used
to trace the transformed
L. plantarum
in the alimentary tract of the birds. The GFP
transformed bacteria were detected in intestinal sa
mples of oral gavage, spray, and
in ovo
injection groups; while in vent lip method no GFP t
ransformed bacteria were detectable.
Oral gavage method of probiotic administration was
the most effective route, which
seemed to be the result of direct delivery of the f
ull dose of probiotic microorganisms into
the target sites. Based on the results of this tria
l, administration of probiotic in hatchery
had a positive effect on the morphology of the inte
stine and
in ovo
injection route, and
oral gavage method seemed to be more effective. In
this experiment, the utility of
transformed probiotic bacteria with GFP was shown t
o monitor the fate of the probiotics
when administered via various routes to poultry.
Keywords:
Broiler, Labeling, Poultry, Polymerize Chain React
ion, Probiotic.
