Effect of chitosan on Salmonella Typhimurium in broiler chickens

Public concern with the incidence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, particularly among foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella, has been challenging the poultry industry to find alternative means of control. The purposes of the present study were to evaluate in vitro and in vivo effects of chitosan on Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (ST) infection in broiler chicks. For in vitro crop assay experiments, tubes containing feed, water, and ST were treated with either saline as a control or 0.2% chitosan. The entire assay was repeated in three trials. In two independent in vivo trials, 40 broiler chicks were assigned to an untreated control diet or dietary treatment with 0.2% chitosan for 7 days (20 broiler chicks/treatment). At day 4, chicks were challenged with 2×10⁵ colony-forming units (CFU) ST/bird. In a third in vivo trial, 100 broiler chicks were assigned to untreated control diet or dietary treatment with 0.2% chitosan for 10 days (50 broiler chicks/treatment) to evaluate ST horizontal transmission. At day 3, 10 birds were challenged with 10⁵ CFU ST/bird, and the remaining nonchallenged birds (n=40) were kept in the same floor pen. In all three in vitro trials, 0.2% chitosan significantly reduced total CFU of ST at 0.5 and 6 h postinoculation compared with control (p<0.05). In two in vivo trials, at 7 days, dietary 0.2% chitosan significantly reduced total CFU of recovered ST in the ceca in both experiments. Dietary 0.2% chitosan significantly reduced total ST CFU recovered in the ceca of horizontally challenged birds in the third in vivo trial. Chitosan at 0.2% significantly reduced the CFU of recovered ST in vitro and in vivo, proving to be an alternative tool to reduce crop, ceca, and consequently carcass ST contamination as well as decreasing the amount of ST shed to the environment.