Ciência e Tecnologia Veterinária

Influence of Using Probiotics on Microbial Status of Chicken Carcasses

Abstract

Ahmed M Arisha, Wageh Sobhy Darwish and Ahmed E Tharwat

There is currently a world trend to reduce using of antibiotics in poultry industry and replacing it by natural alternatives such as probiotics to obtain healthy and antibiotic-free chicken meat. Therefore, this study evaluated firstly the microbial status of chicken carcasses in Dakahliya Governorate, Egypt. Then, the effect of using probiotics before slaughtering by 48 hours on the microbial status of chicken carcasses was experimentally investigated. Microbiological examination in this study included general microbial indicators (Aerobic plate count, Enterobacteriaceae count and Most Probable Number of coliforms), isolation and identification of Campylobacter spp. In addition, multiplex PCR was used to detect the virulence-associated genes of Campylobacter jejuni including cdtA, cdtB and cdtC toxin-producing genes. The achieved results revealed high microbial load of both commercial and untreated chicken carcasses compared with the probiotics-treated carcasses, which showed significant improvement, in terms of the microbiological quality of the chicken carcasses.