Effects of dietary Bacillus amyloliquefaciens on mucosal immunity, cecal volatile fatty acids and microbial diversity in broiler chickens

This trial was conducted to investigate the adhesion of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens to Caco-2 cells, the effects of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens on the mucosal immunity, cecal volatile fatty acids and microbial diversity in broiler chickens. Three hundred and sixty 1-d-old Ross 308 chicks were randomly divided into 3 dietary treatments groups, which birds fed with basal diet, basal diet supplemented with colistine sulfate, and basal diet supplemented with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. Polymerase chain reaction denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis was used to analyze the change of cecal microflora, and Gas Chromatography was used to analyze the cecal volatile fatty acids. Data showed that: 1) Bacillus amyloliquefaciens had a good adhesion ability to epithelial cells; 2) the supplementation of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens significantly increased the concentration of ileal mucosal secretory IgA and interleukin 6, decreased (P<0.05) the concentration of tumor necrosis factor-α 3) resulted in the change of cecal microbial community, higher levels of acetic acid, methylacetic and isovaleric acid in the birds. Thus, we considered that Bacillus amyloliquefaciens enhanced the mucosal immunity, increased the cecal concentration of major volatile fatty acids and the diversity microflora community in broilers.