1998 Volume 17 Issue 2 Pages 133-139
Avian growth depression (AGD) has been cited as the costliest disease affecting the poultry industry. It occurs when young chickens or turkeys are exposed to nutritional, environmental, and/or microbiological stressors. In this report we describe model systems developed to study AGD in chickens under controlled laboratory conditions. Mild intermittent cooling during the first 48 hr posthatch, peroral Salmonella challenges during the first few days posthatch, and feeding newly-hatched chicks a protein deficient diet were shown to induce AGD. We had previously shown that AGD induced by intermittant cooling of newly hatched poults could be moderated by probiotic administrations of Lactobacillus reuteri. In the present report, evidence is presented showing that moderation of this disease by L. reuteri treatments occurs in chickens as well, and that this probiotic protection occurs whether the disease is induced by an environmental, microbiological, or nutritional stressor.
