Gut Health Solutions for Poultry

Pashu Sandesh, 08 July 2020

Dr V.Rajendra Prasad

Maintaining gut health in poultry is essential to raising top performing birds. When properly managed, good gut health in poultry empowers birds to fight off disease. Gut health, an intricate and complex area combining nutrition, microbiology, immunology and physiology, has a key role to play. When gut health is compromised, digestion and nutrient absorption are affected which, in turn, can have a detrimental effect on feed conversion leading to economic loss and greater susceptibility to disease.

Poultry gut is very complex with bacteria, virus and digestion process and virus, gut flora and digestion interact constantly with each other. Do you know that still lot is unknown about gut integrity in Poultry?

The gastrointestinal system can be controlled to some extent  by supplementing with :

• Enzymes which reduces gut viscosity, control anti-nutritional factors and eases the digestion process. Enzyme supplementation reduces the pollutant potential of excreta. Enzymes also modulate the intestinal microbiota.
• Probiotics are defined as live microbial feed supplements, which beneficially affect the host animal by improving its intestinal microbial balance. Probiotics will inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria ie E.Coli and Clostridia etc.
• Organic acids control mould, fungi and other bacteria in the gut as well as in feed and improve productivity making farmer happy. Supplementation of organic acids can modify the enteric bacterial population, so it is recommended to use it along with probiotics.
• Toxin Binders: Under practical conditions, and poultry feed is completely free from mycotoxins. The adverse effects of mycotoxins on poultry are many indicating a clear and persistent danger. Toxin binders have been developed to bind with the mycotoxin(s) and prevent the negative effects on the animals that prevent the toxic effects of mycotoxins on the animals consuming contaminated feed.