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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2000, p. 2536-2540, Vol. 66, No. 6
Centre for Veterinary Public Health and
Environmental Protection, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht
University, Utrecht,1 and TNO-Nutrition,
Zeist,2 The Netherlands
Received 27 March 2000/Accepted 5 April 2000
It is known that volatile fatty acids can inhibit growth of species
of the family Enterobacteriaceae in vitro. However, whether these volatile fatty acids affect bacterial populations in the ceca of
chickens is unknown. Therefore, a study was conducted to investigate if
changes in volatile fatty acids in ceca of broiler chickens during
growth affect bacterial populations. Results showed that members of the
Enterobacteriaceae and enterococci are present in large
numbers in 3-day-old broilers and start to decrease when broilers grow
older. Lactobacilli are present in large numbers as well in 3-day-old
broilers, but they remain stable during the growth of broilers.
Acetate, butyrate, and propionate increase from undetectable levels in
1-day-old broilers to high concentrations in 15-day-old broilers, after
which they stabilize. Significant negative correlations could be
calculated between numbers of Enterobacteriaceae and
concentrations of undissociated acetate, propionate, and butyrate. Furthermore, pure cultures of Enterobacteriaceae isolated
from the ceca were grown in the presence of volatile fatty acids.
Growth rates and maximal optical density decreased when these strains grew in the presence of increasing volatile fatty acid concentrations. It is concluded that volatile fatty acids are responsible for the
reduction in numbers of Enterobacteriaceae in the ceca of broiler chickens during growth.
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Role of Volatile Fatty Acids in Development of the
Cecal Microflora in Broiler Chickens during Growth
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: CVVM, Faculty of
Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80175, 3508 TD
Utrecht, The Netherlands. Phone: 31 30 253 33 79. Fax: 31 30 253 23 65. E-mail: wielen{at}vvdo.vet.uu.nl.
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