{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T17:41:29Z","timestamp":1782841289934,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,15]],"date-time":"2025-05-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1747267200000},"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. Vet. Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>Necrotic enteritis (NE), caused by <jats:italic>Clostridium perfringens<\/jats:italic>, has seen a surge in chicken populations recently due to the ban on antibiotic growth promoters in feed.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>In this research, screening and identification of probiotics with strong antagonistic ability against <jats:italic>C. perfringens<\/jats:italic> from 34 wild bird fecal isolates, followed by analysis of probiotic characteristics and carbon source metabolic activity. Strains exhibiting favorable antagonistic activity against <jats:italic>C. perfringens<\/jats:italic> were subsequently employed in vivo study to evaluate their protective efficacy against <jats:italic>C. perfringens<\/jats:italic> challenge in locally-sourced broilers.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>The results showed that <jats:italic>Enterococcus faecalis<\/jats:italic> strains YL-EF25 and YL-EF32 were selected based on their ability to inhibit the growth and biofilm formation of <jats:italic>C. perfringens<\/jats:italic>. These two strains demonstrated good tolerance to bile salts, artificial gastric juice, and phenol, as well as metabolic activity toward dietary fiber and propionic acid precursor substances. <jats:italic>In vivo<\/jats:italic> tests on locally-sourced broilers revealed that NE induced body weight loss, intestinal lesions, and intestinal inflammation, as well as imbalance in the gut microflora. Administration of <jats:italic>E. faecalis<\/jats:italic> YL-EF25 and YL-EF32 can alleviate these symptoms. We find that feed supplementation with YL-EF25 and YL-EF32 reduced the lesion score of challenged chicks (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.05), with increased tight junction-related gene expression (Occludin and ZO-1) and decreased proinflammatory cytokine (TNF-\u03b1 and IFN-\u03b3) expression in jejunum compared with NE-induced broilers (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.05). Furthermore, <jats:italic>E. faecalis<\/jats:italic> YL-EF25 can boost peripheral blood lymphocyte proliferation activity (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.05).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title><jats:p>These finding indicated that addition of <jats:italic>E. faecalis<\/jats:italic> YL-EF25 and YL-EF32 improved growth performance and mitigated NE-induced gut injury, possibly by strengthening intestinal mucosal barrier function and restoring effects on the ileal microbial composition in <jats:italic>C. perfringens-challenged<\/jats:italic> broilers.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fvets.2025.1601605","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,15]],"date-time":"2025-05-15T15:33:25Z","timestamp":1747323205000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Enterococcus faecalis strains derived from wild bird provide protection against Clostridium perfringens challenge in locally-sourced broilers"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Gerui","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ainul","family":"Zahra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tianrui","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qiyu","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yan","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yuhang","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yupeng","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yuxi","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mingyue","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jingshuo","family":"Gong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Haibin","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhannan","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chunfeng","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yanlong","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"197","DOI":"10.1006\/anae.1996.0027","article-title":"Genotyping 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