Recent updates on encapsulated probiotics in poultry: a review

The global consumption of poultry is expected to increase by 2032, especially in Asian and European countries. Proper nutrition, including feed additives, plays a role in meeting the global demand for livestock products. In addition, the use of antibiotics as growth promoters resulted in antibiotic resistance issues, leading to the need to investigate alternative methods for replacing the role of antibiotics. The use of probiotic bacteria has proved to improve the growth performance of poultry and suppress pathogenic bacteria growth in the digestive tract. However, microenvironment conditions in the digestive tract affect the survival of probiotic bacteria. Modification of bacteria by encapsulation shows promising potential to protect bacteria from the harsh conditions in the poultry digestive tract. In addition, probiotic encapsulation also showed improvement in performance in poultry. This review will discuss the current encapsulation technology in probiotics applied to poultry and its effects. It also will explore the prospect of encapsulated probiotics, especially in the poultry industry, and its challenge.