Dietary probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum l-211 for farm animals. I. The additive for broiler chicks (Gallus gallus L.)

Lysine is an essential limiting amino acid in chick feeding. Its deficiency in feeds, especially of wheat-barley or corn-sunflower type, can reach 15-20 %. Dietary synthetic amino acids may negatively influence productivity due to imbalances caused by rapid amino acids entry into blood. This study continues a series of our experiments aimed at determining the efficiency of dietary synthetic lysine replacement by the microorganisms that synthesize L-lysine. Previous studies have shown a high positive effect of lysine producing Escherichia coli (Prolizer-BioR probiotic; JSC «Bioreactor», Moscow), however, seeking for similar producers among non-pathogenic microorganisms remains important. In this paper we present the findings in the support of Lactobacillus plantarum L-211 probiotic (JSC «Bioreactor», Moscow) ability to optimize the gut microflora in view to increase the productive performance in poultry. Using the T-RFLP (terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism), we compared the cecal bacterial community in four groups of Cobb 500 broiler chickens at 35 days of age. The diet in group 1 (control) was a balanced combined feed. The broilers of groups 2, 3 and 4 were fed with dietary domestic probiotics containing lysine-producing Lactobacillus plantarum L-211, L. plantarum which does not produce lysine, or Bacillus subtilis (a daily rate of 1 ml for lactobacilli and 2 ml for bacilli). The concertation of all live bacteria was 100 million CFU/ml. Lysine producing L. plantarum L-211 increased the level of lactobacilli by 3.88 times (P < 0.005), of cellulolytic and amylolytic Clostridia by 1.13 times, and of acid utilizing Negativicutes by 1.36 times (P < 0.05), whereas, on the contrary, reduced the portion of pathogenic peptococci by 1.35 times (P < 0.05), staphylococci by 1.46 times and enterobacteria by 2.33 times (P < 0.005). However, L. plantarum L-211, unlike L. plantarum or B. subtilis, did not affect the Fusobacteria or Enterobacteriaceae counts. Also, L. plantarum L-211 was not effective against pasteurella and actinomycetes which, on the contrary, increased in number 1.33- and 2.75-fold (P < 0.005) as compared to the control. The lysine-producing probiotic strain resulted in the highest average live weight in broilers at day 35 and the highest average daily weigh gain (5.01 % and 5.14 %, respectively). L. plantarum L-211 also led to the lowest availability of lysine in the diet.