ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Infectious Diseases
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1601605
Enterococcus faecalis strains derived from wild bird provide protection against Clostridium perfringens challenge in locally-sourced broilers
Provisionally accepted
Gerui Zhang
Ainul ZahraTianrui YangQiyu GuoYan SunYuhang ZhangYupeng GaoYuxi ZhangMingyue WangJingshuo Gong
Haibin HuangZhannan Wang
Chunfeng Wang
Yanlong Jiang*- Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, China
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Necrotic enteritis (NE), caused by Clostridium perfringens, has seen a surge in chicken populations recently due to the ban on antibiotic growth promoters in feed.This study aims to screen bird-derived probiotics for anti-C. perfringens activity and explore their protective effects as feed additives in preventing NE. From 34 wild bird fecal isolates, Enterococcus faecalis strains YL-EF25 and YL-EF32 were selected based on their ability to inhibit the growth and biofilm formation of C. perfringens.These two strains demonstrated good tolerance to bile salts, artificial gastric juice, and phenol, as well as metabolic activity towards dietary fiber and propionic acid precursor substances. In vivo tests on locally-sourced broilers revealed that NE induced body weight loss, intestinal lesions, and intestinal inflammation, as well as imbalance in the gut microflora. Administration of E. faecalis YL-EF25 and YL-EF32 can alleviate these symptoms. We find that feed supplementation with YL-EF25 and YL-EF32 reduced the lesion score of challenged chicks (P < 0.05), with increased tight junction-related gene expression (Occludin and ZO-1) and decreased proinflammatory cytokine (TNF-α and IFN-γ) expression in jejunum compared with NE-induced broilers (P < 0.05). Furthermore, E. faealis YL-EF25 can boost peripheral blood lymphocyte proliferation activity (P < 0.05). These finding indicated that addition of E. faecalis YL-EF25 and YL-EF32 improved growth performance and mitigated NE-induced gut injury, possibly by strengthening intestinal mucosal barrier function and restoring effects on the ileal microbial composition in C. perfringens -challenged broilers.
Keywords: 4643, Figure: 5, Table: 3 Strain screening, probiotic, antibiotic alternatives, Clostridium perfringens, Enterococcus faecalis
Received: 28 Mar 2025; Accepted: 29 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Zahra, Yang, Guo, Sun, Zhang, Gao, Zhang, Wang, Gong, Huang, Wang, Wang and Jiang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yanlong Jiang, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, China
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