Dietary Saccharomyces cerevisiae boulardii CNCM I-1079 Positively Affects Performance and Intestinal Ecosystem in Broilers during a Campylobacter jejuni Infection

In poultry production, probiotics have shown promise to limit campylobacteriosis at the farm level, the most commonly reported zoonosis in Europe. The aim of this trial was to evaluate the effects of supplementation in challenged chickens on performance and intestinal ecosystem. A total of 156 day old male Ross 308 chicks were assigned to a basal control diet (C) or to a CNCM I-1079 supplemented diet (S). All the birds were orally challenged with on day (d) 21. Live weight and growth performance were evaluated on days 1, 21, 28 and 40. The histology of intestinal mucosa was analyzed and the gut microbiota composition was assessed by 16S rRNA. Performance throughout the trial as well as villi length and crypt depth were positively influenced by yeast supplementation. A higher abundance of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) annotated as and and a lower abundance of Campylobacter in fecal samples from S compared to the C group were reported. Supplementation with can effectively modulate the intestinal ecosystem, leading to a higher abundance of beneficial microorganisms and modifying the intestinal mucosa architecture, with a subsequent improvement of the broilers' growth performance.