The inulin-type fructans are non-digestible oligosaccharides that are fermented in the gastrointestinal tract of farm animals and pets. This review focuses on the various effects of inulin-type fructans in pigs, poultry, calves and companion animals. Effects of the inulin-type fructans on gut microflora, digestion and availability of nutrients, gut morphology, fermentation characteristics and a...

This article summarizes the experimental knowledge on efficacy, possible modes of action, and aspects of application of phytogenic products as feed additives for swine and poultry. Phytogenic feed additives comprise a wide variety of herbs, spices, and products derived thereof, and are mainly essential oils. The assumption that phytogenic compounds might improve the palatability of feed has not...

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the capillary electrophoresis single-strand conformation polymorphism (CE-SSCP) to characterize poultry gut microbiota and the ability of this molecular method to detect modifications related to rearing conditions to be used as an epidemiological tool. The V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene was selected as the PCR target. Our results showed that th...

Antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) are commonly used within poultry farming to increase muscle growth. Microbial composition in the gut is known be influenced by AGP use although exact AGP-induced changes remain unclear.

Gut health is paramount for commercial poultry production, and improved methods to assess gut health are critically needed to better understand how the avian gastrointestinal tract matures over time. One important aspect of gut health is the totality of bacterial populations inhabiting different sites of the avian gastrointestinal tract, and associations of these populations with the poultry fa...

Prebiotics are non-digestible feed ingredients that are metabolized by specific members of intestinal microbiota and provide health benefits for the host. Fermentable oligosaccharides are best known prebiotics that have received increasing attention in poultry production. They act through diverse mechanisms, such as providing nutrients, preventing pathogen adhesion to host cells, interacting wi...

There is a distinct possibility that phytate negatively influences protein and energy utilisation in poultry and, as these influences would be ameliorated by phytase, there are substantial, practical implications. Despite several thousand scientific papers and a rapidly growing market the use of phytase and the importance of phytate in practical poultry nutrition remains an area of some confusi...

There is a distinct possibility that phytate negatively influences protein and energy utilisation in poultry and, as these influences would be ameliorated by phytase, there are substantial, practical implications. Despite several thousand scientific papers and a rapidly growing market the use of phytase and the importance of phytate in practical poultry nutrition remains an area of some confusi...

Bacteriological studies revealed that normal tissue, air sacs, feathers, skin of birds, poultry feed, gut, and chicken droppings were sources of the predominant organisms, including staphylococci, found in bruised poultry tissue. Further investigation of normal tissue revealed that after the intramuscular injection of Staphylococcus aureus, marker strain (MS), the organism was eliminated from t...