Bacillus subtilis PB6 improves intestinal health of broiler chickens challenged with Clostridium perfringens-induced necrotic enteritis

Necrotic enteritis (NE) is an enterotoxemic disease caused by Clostridium perfringens that results in significant economic losses, averaging damage of $0.05 per bird. The present study investigated the influence of a dietary supplement, Bacillus subtilis PB6, on performance, intestinal health, and gut integrity against C. perfringens-induced NE in broiler birds. Bacillus subtilis PB6 (ATCC-PTA 6737) is a natural strain isolated from healthy chicken gut that has been shown in in vitro to produce antimicrobial substances with broad activity against various strains of Campylobacter and Clostridium species. The animal study was conducted on broiler chickens (Cobb 400) for the period of 35 d using a completely randomized design. The experimental design included 3 treatments groups. Each treatment group contained 6 replicates, 3 male and 3 female, with 12 birds in each replicate. The 3 treatment groups were an uninfected control, an infected control, and an infected group supplemented with B. subtilis PB6 at 500 g/t of feed, containing 5 x 10(11) cfu/kg. Necrotic enteritis was induced in the broiler birds via oral inoculation of 30,000 oocysts of mixed strains of Eimeria species on d 14 followed by C. perfringens (10(8) cfu/mL) on d 19 through 21 of trial. The birds were analyzed for BW gain, mortality, feed conversion ratio (FCR), intestinal lesion score, intestinal C. perfringens counts, and villus histomorphometry. The infected control group showed markedly thickened mucosa, hemorrhages, intestinal lesions, and ballooning of intestine. The supplementation of B. subtilis PB6 reduced the FCR (P < 0.05) and intestinal C. perfringens counts significantly (P < 0.05) compared with the infected control group. It was also observed that B. subtilis PB6 improved villi length by 10.88 and 30.46% (P < 0.05) compared with uninfected and infected control groups, respectively. The group supplemented with B. subtilis PB6 significantly (P < 0.05) increased the villi length to crypt depth ratio by 49.11% compared with the infected group. In conclusion, the supplementation of B. subtilis PB6 not only controlled C. perfringens-induced NE, but also improved intestinal health in the broiler birds.