COMPARISON OF EFFECTS OF CHICKEN CECAL MICROORGANISMS MAINTAINED IN CONTINUOUS-CULTURE AND PROVISION OF DIETARY LACTOSE ON CECAL COLONIZATION BY SALMONELLA-TYPHIMURIUM IN TURKEY POULTS AND BROILER CHICKS

A mixed bacterial culture derived from the cecal contents of an adult broiler chicken was maintained in continuous-flow culture and tested f or effectiveness in Salmonella colonization reduction in broiler chick s and turkey poults. Day-old chicks and poults in two separate experim ents were divided into four groups and provided a standard com-soybean diet with: 1) no culture, no lactose (control); 2) 5% dietary lactose ; 3) broth culture by crop gavage; 4) culture by crop gavage and 5% la ctose. All groups were challenged orally on Day 3 with 104 Salmonella typhimurium. At 10 and 21 d of age the d-chicks provided culture and l actose had significantly (P <.05) fewer Salmonella per gram of cecal c ontents than controls. Poults provided culture by gavage and lactose a lso had significantly (P < .05) fewer Salmonella per gram of cecal con tents than control poults, but the number was 100- to 1,000-fold highe r than that of the chicks provided the same treatment. The percentage of Salmonella cecal-culture-positive chicks provided culture and lacto se was significantly reduced at 10 and 21 d of age in both experiments compared with controls, but the percentage of cecal-culture-positive poults was significantly different from controls only at 21 d in one o f the two experiments. Chicks provided culture and lactose had signifi cantly fewer Salmonella colony-forming units per gram and significantl y fewer cecal-culture-positive birds than poults provided culture and lactose in both experiments. The results indicate that cultures of cec al bacteria that effectively reduce Salmonella colonization in broiler d-chicks may not be as effective for reduction of Salmonella coloniza tion in turkey poults.