Probiotic form effects on growth performance, digestive function, and immune related biomarkers in broilers

The aim of this work was to assess the effect of dietary viable or heat inactivated probiotic forms (PF) combined or not with avilamycin (AV) used as a growth promoter, on broiler growth performance, nutrient digestibility, digestive enzyme activities, and expression of immune response related genes. Depending on the type of PF (i.e., no addition, viable, inactivated) and AV addition (no/yes), 450 one-day-old Cobb male broilers were allocated in the following 6 treatments according to a 3 x 2 factorial arrangement with 5 replicates of 15 broilers each for 6 wk: CoN: diet without any addition; CoN+A: combination of CoN with AV; ViP: viable PF - no AV; ViP+A: combination of ViP with AV; InP: inactivated PF - no AV; InP+A: combination of InP with AV. There were no interactions (P > 0.05) for overall performance parameters. In contrast, PF or AV addition improved BW gain (P-PF = 0.015; P-AV < 0.001), FCR (P-PF < 0.001; P-AV < 0.001) and production efficiency factor (P-PF = 0.001; P-AV = 0.001). Significant (P-PFxAV <= 0.05) interaction effects regarding ileal digestibility (IAD) of DM and total tract apparent digestibility (TTAD) of DM and ether extracts (EE) were noted. In addition, PF affected IAD and TTAD of CP (P-PF < 0.001, P-PF = 0.004, respectively). Inactivated PF increased (P-PR = 0.024) lipase activity in jejunal digesta. At spleen level InP and ViP+A down-regulated TGF-beta 4 (P-PFxAV = 0.035) compared to CoN and ViP, whereas ViP+A up-regulated iNOS (P-PFxAV = 0.022). An anti-inflammatory effect of live and inactive PF and/or AV addition at cecal tonsils was shown by iNOS down-regulation (P-PFxAV = 0.015) compared to CoN. Furthermore, AV down-regulated IFN-gamma (P-AV = 0.002). In conclusion, viable probiotic, as well as inactivated probiotic alone or in combination with avilamycin, improved nutrient digestibility. All dietary additives affected growth performance positively and induced an anti-inflammatory response at cecal level.