Newsletter #107

Editorial

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For this first edition online, we are tackling an important issue: the interest of stimulating endogenous butyrate production.

Interest of stimulating endogenous butyrate production

Since the ban of 2006 on antimicrobial growth promotors (AGPs), the animal feed industry focused on alternative strategies to improve gut health. In addition, to absorb nutrients the intestinal tract plays a key role in pathogen control and immune defenses as long as its integrity is preserved.?

Butyrate is a major short chain fatty acid mainly produced in the caeca by bacterial (Firmicutes) fermentations. Thanks to its regulatory effects on gene expression, butyrate has multiple beneficial effects, especially in young animals. Next to its major effect on gut barrier integrity, butyrate participates to pathogen control, such as Salmonella Enteritidis and Clostridium perfringens and has anti-inflammatory properties. The stronger barrier integrity, thanks to a better epithelial cell’s proliferation and thus longer villi, will lead to an improved nutrients absorption and animal growth. The anti-inflammatory capacity of butyrate is linked with the inhibition of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) encoding pro-inflammatory cytokines, inflammation-inducing enzymes, immune receptor... For all these reasons, butyrate can be an efficient tool to contribute to the reduction of antibiotic use and improvement of animal’s performances.

Providing butyrate in the feed remains challenging has it can only be added in limited amount (offensive odor and absorption in the upper tract of the gut). Stimulating the endogenous production of butyrate thanks to microbiota modulation seems to be an efficient alternative. Prebiotics are good candidates to contribute to gut microbiota modulation. According to Gibson et al., prebiotics are “Selectively fermented ingredients that allow specific changes, both in the composition and/or activity of the gastrointestinal microflora that confer benefits upon host wellbeing and health”. Prebiotics are composed of oligosaccharides that are converted into secondary metabolites including lactate a major butyrate precursor.?Standardized and characterized pectic-oligosaccharides (POS) from citrus peel are known to be efficient prebiotics and thus could participate to the stimulation of endogenous butyrate production.?

Sources: Onrust et al., 2015; Bedford et al., 2018 (other sources available upon request)

Field evidence: [TRIAL] Nor-Spice AB increases endogenous butyric acids rate in broilers’ gut

In a previous study (PI CZ 78), we have assessed the positive effect of Nor-Spice AB on the growth of Lactobacillus acidophilus, which can produce lactate that will be metabolized in butyric acid by a specific Clostridium cluster. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of Nor-Spice AB to increase the endogenous production of butyric acid in the gut.

Material and Methods

The trial was conducted in North America in an experimental farm. 32 pens of day-old male Ross 308 broilers (25 kg/m2) were divided into 2 groups:

• A control group fed with a standard diet
• A Nor-Spice AB group fed with a standard diet supplemented with 250 ppm of Nor-Spice AB from day 0 to slaughtering (day 34)

The % of butyric acid (relative to total short chain fatty acid) was measured at day 12 and at the end of the trial at day 34 (8 samples per group).

Results

The results showed that when Nor-Spice AB is supplemented in the feed, we observe a higher and significant (P<0.05) rate of butyric acid in caecal at day 12 and a higher butyric acid caecal rate at day 34.

Conclusion

In broiler feed, Nor-Spice AB supplementation allows to increase endogenous butyric acids rate in the gut. The better effect is observed at d12, when the intestine is still immature and pathogenic phenomena begin to appear. As butyric acid is well described to inhibit the growth of pathogens and stimulate the production of mucin, improving its concentration earlier allow to strengthen digestive safety of young animals.

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