CHANGES IN THE GUT MICROBIOTA OF BROILER CHICKENS AFTER LACTOBACILLUS SP. PROBIOTIC TREATMENTS: A MINI-REVIEW

E. Târnoveanu, Mihaela Dumitru, Mihaela Hăbeanu

Abstract
   Biotechnology studies have documented several positive effects of probiotic products on the animals’ state of health. Probiotic Lactobacillus sp. treatments applied to broiler chickens may help restore the balance of the gastrointestinal microbiota. The way probiotics act against pathogens can prevent microbial diseases and improve the host’s resistance to gut infections during physiological stress occurring in the intensive production system. Other advantages for the host expected from the use of probiotic products as feed additives are the synthesis of vitamins and the activation of the immune system. According to morphological approaches, there are some changes in the size of the intestinal absorption surface recorded after the administration of probiotic treatments to the broiler chickens. Such histological changes would relate to a better assimilation of the feed. Increasing the nutrient availability by the lactic acid bacteria colonies in the gastrointestinal tract improves the broiler chickens’ production. The probiotic treatments are associated with a reduction in the number of pathogen populations and an increased percentage of the beneficial microorganisms, both leading to a better health status of the host. The applicability of probiotic properties in vivo depends on keeping the appropriate ratio between the concentration of the probiotic products and the feed quantity adapted to the intense growth needs of the broiler chickens.

Key words: probiotics, Lactobacillus sp., microbiota, broiler chickens, gastrointestinal tract