Pratima Adhikari, Veterinarian, PhD (poultry)

INTRODUCTIONFeed cost accounts for approximately 60 to 70% of total production cost in the egg industry (Wilkinson, 2018). Out of this, 85% correlates to the energy and protein content of the laying hen diet (Santana et al., 2018). While reducing crude protein (CP) levels in diets may offer some advantages for the environment and reduce the feed cost, maintaining the birds’ digestive health ...

This study evaluated the effect of probiotics, a prebiotic and essential oil blend and their combination on the growth of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) in a digestive assay mimicking three digestive compartments of the poultry digestive tract: crop, proventriculus, and intestine. A poultry commensal Lactobacillus reuteri (LR) and SE strain were utilized. The prebiotic product was included at 0.025% ...