How probiotics work
As early as 1974, Parker had established
that probiotics contributed to intestinal
microbial balance but it wasn’t until 1989
that Fuller acknowledged that this contribution
was beneficial to the host animal.
Lee et al (2010) identified that the spore
forming Bacillus spp made the gut environment
less conducive to colonisation by
pathogenic bacteria, competing with them
for mucosal attachment and nutrients and
improving nutrient uptake through villi
development (Figure 1) Bacillus spp have
also been shown to lower the pH through
acid fermentation, creating a positive
environment for beneficial bacteria such
as Lactobacilli which have been shown to
reduce amounts of pathogenic bacteria
such as Salmonella, E. coli, Campylobacter
and Clostridium16. Unlike some other
probiotics, Bacillus strains can also resist
heat and high pressure17, helping them
survive the hostile steam conditioning and
pelleting process routinely used in the feed
industry. There is also strong evidence to
suggest that multi-strain Bacillus are more
effective than single strain equivalents.
FCR improvements of 4.4% average have
been shown across multiple trials conducted
with multi-strain Bacillus in the
first few weeks post hatch, while Figure 2
shows that application of the same three
strain Bacillus product reduces the negative
impact necrotic enteritis challenge has
on performance from hatch to 28 days.
An additional advantage of some Bacillus
strains is their compatibility with other
feed additives such as antibiotics18 and
enzymes (Figure 3)