The effectiveness of a dietary direct-fed microbial and mannan oligosaccharide on ultrastructural changes of intestinal mucosa of turkey poults infected with Salmonella and Campylobacter

Salmonella and Campylobacter are considered major public health burdens worldwide, and poultry are known to be one of the main reservoirs for these zoonotic pathogens. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of a commercial probiotic or direct-fed microbial (DFM) Calsporin (CSP), and prebiotic or mannan oligosaccharide (MOS) (IMW50) on ultrastructural changes and the villous integrity of intestinal mucosa in turkey poults challenged with Salmonella and Campylobacter. A 21-day battery cage study was conducted using 4 dietary treatments including a basal diet (corn and soybean–based) nonsupplemented and uninfected as a negative control (NC); basal diet supplemented with 0.05% DFM (CSP); basal diet supplemented with 0.05% MOS (IMW50); and basal diet supplemented with 0.05% mixture of DFM and MOS at equal proportions. Female large white turkey poults aged 336 days were obtained from a local commercial hatchery and randomly distributed in electrically heated battery cages with 12 treatments of 4 replicates per treatment containing 7 poults per pen. The first 16 pens were not infected with bacteria, poults in pens 17-32 were orally challenged at day 7 with 10⁵ cfu Salmonella Heidelberg, and the poults in pens 33-48 were orally challenged at day 7 with 10⁵ cfu Campylobacter jejuni. Feed and water were provided ad libitum throughout the study. At day 21, ileal tissue samples from 1 bird per cage were collected for intestinal integrity and ultrastructural examination by scanning and electron microscopy. DFM and MOS supplementation was effective in both challenged and nonchallenged (not infected with Salmonella and Campylobacter) birds. Goblet cells and mucus were increased, with the presence of large numbers of segmented filamentous bacteria in DFM- and MOS-supplemented groups compared with birds in control treatments. The number and size of villi were reduced in poults exposed to Salmonella and Campylobacter. Results show that CSP and IMW50 provide protection of ileal mucosal integrity in poults exposed to Salmonella or Campylobacter.