title: Effect of encapsulated carvacrol on the incidence of necrotic enteritis in broiler chickens.
abstract: There is an urgent need to control necrotic enteritis (NE) caused by Clostridium perfringens in chickens when antibiotics are withdrawn from feed. Carvacrol has strong antimicrobial activity and its delivery to the animal intestine can be significantly enhanced after encapsulation. The present study has investigated the potential of encapsulated carvacrol in controlling NE. In general, micro-encapsulation of carvacrol in an alginate-whey protein matrix showed no adverse effect on its antimicrobial activity towards C. perfringens in either Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) broth or a simulated gastrointestinal model. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of both encapsulated and un-encapsulated carvacrol were approximately 200 μl/l against C. perfringens in BHI. In a broiler infection model with C. perfringens, the diets supplemented with encapsulated carvacrol at the dose of either 250 or 650 μg/g significantly reduced NE in the chicken intestine, which was close to the degree of lesions observed in bacitracin/salinomycin treated birds. Supplementation with either bacitracin/salinomycin or encapsulated carvacrol showed no significant impact on intestinal burden of Lactobacillus. However, the treatment with bacitracin/salinomycin or the low dose of encapsulated carvacrol reduced the level of C. perfringens in the ileum of birds at 35 days of age. These results suggest that our encapsulated carvacrol can be used to combat NE disease in chickens.
authors.affiliation: a State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology , Nanchang University , Nanchang , People's Republic of China.|b Guelph Food Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada , Guelph , ON , Canada.
authors.forename: Xiaozhen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: b Guelph Food Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada , Guelph , ON , Canada.
authors.forename: Moussa S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Diarra
authors.affiliation: b Guelph Food Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada , Guelph , ON , Canada.
authors.forename: Yonggang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: b Guelph Food Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada , Guelph , ON , Canada.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: b Guelph Food Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada , Guelph , ON , Canada.
authors.forename: Hai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: a State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology , Nanchang University , Nanchang , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shao-Ping
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.affiliation: a State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology , Nanchang University , Nanchang , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ming-Yong
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: b Guelph Food Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada , Guelph , ON , Canada.
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002645:Chickens / Q000382:microbiology*; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*; D003016:Clostridium perfringens / Q000187:drug effects*; D000081007:Cymenes; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004751:Enteritis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*; D007082:Ileum / Q000382:microbiology; D015994:Incidence; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology; D039821:Monoterpenes / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D009336:Necrosis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D000081007:Cymenes; D039821:Monoterpenes; C073316:carvacrol
keywords: Carvacrol; Clostridium perfringens; antimicrobial activity; encapsulation; necrotic enteritis