title: Dietary nisin modulates the gastrointestinal microbial ecology and enhances growth performance of the broiler chickens.
abstract: Due to antimicrobial properties, nisin is one of the most commonly used and investigated bacteriocins for food preservation. Surprisingly, nisin has had limited use in animal feed as well as there are only few reports on its influence on microbial ecology of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). The present study therefore aimed at investigating effects of dietary nisin on broiler chicken GIT microbial ecology and performance in comparison to salinomycin, the widely used ionophore coccidiostat. In total, 720 one-day-old male Ross 308 chicks were randomly distributed to six experimental groups. The positive control (PC) diet was supplemented with salinomycin (60 mg/kg). The nisin (NI) diets were supplemented with increasing levels (100, 300, 900 and 2700 IU nisin/g, respectively) of the bacteriocin. The negative control (NC) diet contained no additives. At slaughter (35 days of age), activity of specific bacterial enzymes (α- and β-glucosidases, α-galactosidases and β-glucuronidase) in crop, ileum and caeca were significantly higher (P<0.05) in the NC group, and nisin supplementation decreased the enzyme activities to levels observed for the PC group. A similar inhibitory influence on bacterial activity was reflected in the levels of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) and putrefactive SCFA (PSCFA) in digesta from crop and ileum; no effect was observed in caeca. Counts of Bacteroides and Enterobacteriacae in ileum digesta were significantly (P<0.001) decreased by nisin and salinomycin, but no effects were observed on the counts of Clostridium perfringens, Lactobacillus/Enterococcus and total bacteria. Like salinomycin, nisin supplementation improved broiler growth performance in a dose-dependent manner; compared to the NC group, the body weight gain of the NI₉₀₀ and NI₂₇₀₀ groups was improved by 4.7 and 8.7%, respectively. Our findings suggest that dietary nisin exerts a mode of action similar to salinomycin and could be considered as a dietary supplement for broiler chickens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Management, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Damian
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Józefiak
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Management, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Bartosz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kierończyk
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of Polish Academy of Sciences, Olsztyn, Poland.
authors.forename: Jerzy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Juśkiewicz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of Polish Academy of Sciences, Olsztyn, Poland.
authors.forename: Zenon
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zduńczyk
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Management, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Mateusz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rawski
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Management, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Jakub
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Długosz
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology and Food Microbiology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sip
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Arhus University, Tjele, Denmark.
authors.forename: Ole
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Højberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D058491:Bacterial Load / Q000662:veterinary; D002645:Chickens / Q000254:growth & development*; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile / Q000378:metabolism; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D064307:Microbiota / Q000187:drug effects*; D009561:Nisin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011714:Pyrans; D013045:Species Specificity; D000095662:Polyether Polyketides
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile; D009561:Nisin; D011714:Pyrans; C010327:salinomycin; D000095662:Polyether Polyketides