Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activity of Organic Acids against Campylobacter jejuni in Broilers

Campylobacteriosis is a collective term used for the infection caused by the members of Campylobacter species. The causative agent is Campylobacter that asymptomatically colonizes broilers during development and contaminates it during slaughter. Outbreaks mostly start from the ingestion of contaminated poultry products or infected water. Reducing colonization of Campylobacter jejuni in the gut can be useful in decreasing the contamination of the poultry. Different organic acids display potential as a substitute of antibiotics. These not only improve poultry performance by modifying the pH of the gastro-intestinal tract of bird, but also change the composition of its microbiome and ultimately protecting the chicken from pH-sensitive pathogens. The purpose of this study was to define the bactericidal action of organic acids on Campylobacter jejuni, individually and in combination. Total 120 broiler chickens were randomly distributed in ten groups. The groups included negative and positive control, pure organic acid group and commercial organic acid formulation group. Excluding negative control group, all other groups were orally challenged with 0.1 ml of the 6-Log 10 CFU/ml of the Campylobacter jejuni culture in normal saline via oral route. Cloacal samples were collected for Campylobacter count, body weight (BW) and feed conversion ratio (FCR), which were determined weekly and cumulatively for 35 days. The birds of a specific treatment group were given organic acid on daily basis for 6-8 h. Excluding the negative control group, all groups were tested with fresh culture of Campylobacter jejuni on 14, 21, 28 and 35 day of age. Bacterial count was performed at 6, 8, 13, 15, 20, 22, 27, 29, 34 and 36 day of age. The results suggest synergistic actions of a mixture of organic acids are effective for decreasing Campylobacter jejuni colonization in vivo. Moreover, our study also suggests that there is no direct impact of organic acids on weight gain and FCR of the birds statistically.