In ovo administration of Bacillus subtilis serotypes effect hatchability, 21-day performance, and intestinal microflora

Recent research has tried to maximize broiler chick health and performance by utilizing commercial in-feed probiotics to inoculate fertile hatching eggs, and thus expose birds earlier to beneficial bacteria. However, the in ovo inoculation of a specific serotype of Bacillus subtilis was detrimental for broiler hatchability. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine if other B. subtilis serotypes negatively affect hatchability or if it is associated with a specific serotype. It was also of interest to determine if the B. subtilis serotype influence chick performance and intestinal microflora. On d18 of incubation, 1886 fertile broiler eggs were in ovo inoculated with the following treatments (T): T1 = Marek's vaccine (MV), T2 = MV + B. subtilis (ATCC 6051), T3 = MV + B. subtilis (ATCC 8473), and T4 = MV + B. subtilis (ATCC 9466). It should be noted that in a previous study, T2 was detrimental to hatchability. Inoculated eggs were transferred to 3 hatchers/T. At hatch, chicks were weighed, feather sexed, and hatch residue analysis was conducted. Male chicks were randomly assigned to 40 raised wire cage so that there were 10 birds/cage. On d 0, 7, 14, and 21 of the grow-out, chicks and feed were weighed to calculate performance data. On these days, the ileum and ceca were aseptically collected to enumerate total aerobes and coliforms. No differences were observed for percentage of mid dead embryos, cracked eggs, and cull chicks (P > 0.05). However, hatch of transfer was significantly reduced by T2 compared to T1, T3, and T4 (P < 0.001). T2 had significantly higher percentages of late dead embryos and pips when compared to the other treatments (P = 0.002 and P < 0.001, respectively). Chicks hatched from T2 were not vigorous and, thus, not used for the grow-out trial. No differences were observed for growth performance characteristics for any of the treatments (P > 0.05). For bacterial enumeration, the ileum had equal or fewer bacterial counts for T3 and T4 when compared to T1 on most sampling days, except on d21 where T4 had higher aerobic and coliform counts (P ≤ 0.0001). For the ceca, T3 and T4 had equal or fewer bacterial counts than T1 on every sampling day (P ≤ 0.0001). These data demonstrate that not all B. subtilis evaluated are detrimental to hatchability, but rather, serotype dependent. In addition, different B. subtilis serotypes can modify the intestinal microflora with potential to reduce pathogenic bacteria present in young broiler, without impacting overall performance.