{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,5]],"date-time":"2026-05-05T22:54:07Z","timestamp":1778021647598,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,15]],"date-time":"2025-01-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1736899200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Physiol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>The ban on antibiotics in the poultry diet resulted in re-emergence of several infectious diseases including necrotic enteritis (NE). These infectious diseases are leading to poor health and welfare as well as production and economic loss. Synbiotic could be a potential candidate to replace the antibiotics in poultry diet. Therefore, a 35-day study was conducted to compare the efficacy of synbiotic (PoultryStar<jats:sup>\u00ae<\/jats:sup>ME) and antibiotic (Stafac<jats:sup>\u00ae<\/jats:sup>50, Virginiamycin) supplementation during an experimentally induced necrotic enteritis infection. A total of 360 day-old chicks were randomly assigned to four treatment groups: Antibiotic, Challenge + Antibiotic, Synbiotic, and Challenge + Synbiotic, each with 6 replicates. The treatment groups referred as \u201cChallenge + Antibiotic\u201d and \u201cChallenge + Synbiotic\u201d were challenged, while their respective non-challenged treatment groups were \u201cantibiotic\u201d and \u201csynbiotic\u201d. NE in birds was induced by gavaging 1 \u00d7 10<jats:sup>4<\/jats:sup> oocysts of <jats:italic>Eimeria maxima<\/jats:italic> on day 14 <jats:bold>(D14)<\/jats:bold> and 1 \u00d7 10<jats:sup>8<\/jats:sup>\u00a0CFU\/mL of <jats:italic>Clostridium perfringens<\/jats:italic> on D19, 20, and 21. Both synbiotic and antibiotic supplementation during the NE challenge did not improve BW gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio at the end of the experiment (D0-35). However, antibiotic supplementation reduced mortality during the week of the challenge (D14-21) <jats:italic>(P &amp;lt; 0.001)<\/jats:italic>. At D21, both synbiotic and antibiotic supplementation during the NE challenge did not decrease the intestinal lesion score <jats:italic>(P &amp;lt; 0.001)<\/jats:italic> compared to their respective non-challenged treatment groups. At D21, synbiotic supplementation during the NE challenge did not decrease intestinal permeability <jats:italic>(P = 0.04)<\/jats:italic> compared to the synbiotic group. At D21, antibiotic supplementation during the NE challenge increased the CD4+:CD8+ T cells <jats:italic>(P &amp;lt; 0.001)<\/jats:italic> in the cecal tonsil. It can be concluded that synbiotic supplementation elicited an immune response, decreasing the inflammatory response in the intestine and ameliorating the NE infection. Therefore, synbiotic could be a potential alternative to replace antibiotics in the poultry industry, but their efficacy needs to be improved through blending additional probiotics and prebiotics, and further exploration is required.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fphys.2024.1511380","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,15]],"date-time":"2025-01-15T06:14:12Z","timestamp":1736921652000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["A comparative evaluation of antibiotic and synbiotic supplementation on production performance and necrotic enteritis severity in broilers during an experimental necrotic enteritis challenge"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Bikas Raj","family":"Shah","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Walid Ghazi","family":"Al Hakeem","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Revathi","family":"Shanmugasundaram","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ramesh K.","family":"Selvaraj","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"515","DOI":"10.1016\/j.japr.2019.11.005","article-title":"An approach to alternative strategies to control avian coccidiosis and necrotic enteritis","volume":"29","author":"Adhikari","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. 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