Therapeutic effect of probiotic-fermented herbal blend as antibiotic alternative on salmonellosis by multi-drug resistant Salmonella pullorum

Salmonella pullorum (S. pullorum), as a host-adaptive pathogen, is known to cause pullorum disease (PD) and injury to the intestinal mucosa in chickens. Given the growing concern over the multi-drug resistant (MDR) characteristics of this bacteria, probiotic-fermented herbal blend (PF) has emerged as an antibiotic alternative due to their antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic effect of PF on salmonellosis by repairing the barrier function of intestinal mucosa of chickens after MDR S. pullorum infection. San Huang chickens were infected with 2.9 × 108 CFU/mL of S. pullorum to establish an infection model, and then fed with PF for 21 days. Compared with the S. pullorum infection group, the PF treatment could effectively improve growth performance, prevent spleen enlargement and immunoglobulin enhancement, decrease intestinal inflammation, promote the proliferation of the intestinal stem cells and strengthen the tight junction integrity, modulate the gut microbiota composition for increasing the beneficial bacteria taxa, such as Ruminococcus, Butyricicoccus and Intestinimonas. These findings indicated that PF might serve as a viable dietary antibiotic alternative for MDR S. pullorum control in the poultry industry.