Along with banning antibiotics, necrotic enteritis (NE), especially subclinical enteritis (SNE), poses a significant threat to the chicken industry; however, probiotics are a potentially promising intervention. We aimed to investigate the beneficial effects of Bacillus subtilis DSM29784 (BS) on the treatment of Clostridium perfringens (CP)-induced SNE in broilers. A total of 360 1-day-old broiler chicks were divided into three treatment groups, namely control (Ctr), SNE, and BS treatment (BST) groups, all of which were fed with a basal died for 21days, and then from day 22 onward, only the BST group had a BS supplemented diet (1×10⁹ colony-forming units BS/kg). On day 15, all chicks, except the Ctr group, were challenged with a 20-fold dose coccidiosis vaccine and 1ml CP (2×10⁸) on days 18–21 for SNE induction. Beneficial effects were observed on growth performance in BST compared to SNE broilers. BST treatment alleviated intestinal lesions and increased the villus height/crypt depth ratio. Further, BST broilers showed increased maltase activity in the duodenum compared with SNE chicks, and a significantly decreased caspase-3 protein expression in the jejunum mucosa. Moreover, an increased abundance of Ruminococcaceae and Bifidobacterium beneficial gut bacteria and an altered gut metabolome were observed. Taken together, we demonstrate that the manipulation of microbial gut composition using probiotics may be a promising prevention strategy for SNE by improving the composition and metabolism of the intestinal microbiota, intestinal structure, and reducing inflammation and apoptosis. Hence, BS potentially has active ingredients that may be used as antibiotic substitutes and effectively reduces the economic losses caused by SNE. The findings of this study provide a scientific foundation for BS application in broiler feed in the future.

除了禁用抗生素外，坏死性肠炎 (NE)，尤其是亚临床肠炎 (SNE)，对养鸡业构成了重大威胁；然而，益生菌是一种潜在的有前途的干预措施。我们旨在研究枯草芽孢杆菌 DSM29784 (BS) 关于治疗 产气荚膜梭菌(CP) 诱导的肉鸡 SNE。将360只1日龄肉鸡分为3个处理组，分别为对照组（Ctr）、SNE组和BS处理（BST）组，均饲喂基础死亡21天，然后从第1天开始从 22 日起，只有 BST 组具有补充 BS 的饮食（1×10 ⁹集落形成单位 BS/kg）。在第 15 天，除 Ctr 组外，所有小鸡都用 20 倍剂量的球虫疫苗和 1ml CP（2×10 ⁸) 在第 18-21 天进行 SNE 诱导。与 SNE 肉鸡相比，在 BST 中观察到对生长性能的有益影响。BST 治疗减轻了肠道病变并增加了绒毛高度/隐窝深度比。此外，与 SNE 雏鸡相比，BST 肉鸡十二指肠麦芽糖酶活性增加，空肠黏膜中 caspase-3 蛋白表达显着降低。此外，越来越多的瘤胃球菌科 和 双歧杆菌观察到有益的肠道细菌和肠道代谢组的改变。总之，我们证明，通过改善肠道微生物群、肠道结构的组成和代谢以及减少炎症和细胞凋亡，使用益生菌操纵微生物肠道组成可能是 SNE 的一种有前景的预防策略。因此，BS潜在的活性成分可作为抗生素替代品，有效降低SNE造成的经济损失。本研究结果为未来BS在肉鸡饲料中的应用提供了科学依据。