Dietary lactose reduces lesions from necrotic enteritis in broilers
Including lactose in the diet of broilers
might help control the clinical signs of
necrotic enteritis, which has been on
the rise in countries and commercial
companies no longer using antibiotic
growth promoters, say investigators.
In an experiment, day-old broilers were
fed either a non-lactose control diet,
a diet with 2.5% lactose or a diet with
4.5% lactose. On day 17, they received
oral doses of Clostridium perfringens,
the bacterium that causes necrotic
enteritis, for 3 consecutive days, say
J. L. McReynolds of the Southern Plains
Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural
Research Service, USDA, and associates.
Next the investigators evaluated intestinal
lesions associated with necrotic enteritis.
Lesion scores were significantly lower
in birds that received 2.5% lactose
compared to the other two groups, the
investigators say.
"These experiments suggest that lactose
could be used as a potential alternative
to growth-promoting antibiotics to help
control this costly disease," they say in a
published article (Poultry Science, 86(8):
1656-1661 2007).
Previous studies by the same investigators
have indicated that lactose might also
reduce salmonella and C. perfringens in
the ceca of poultry.
Spring 2008
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