Practical aspects of competitive exclusion for the control of Salmonella in turkeys

In laboratory trials, a fourth-passage culture of adult chicken cecal contents was protective against challenge with Salmonella typhimurium in turkey poults raised on wood-shavings poultry litter. The culture was not protective against pre-treatment exposure to hatchery-introduced S. bredeney and was inhibited in poults that had received an antibiotic injection at the hatchery. The inhibitory effect of the hatchery antibiotic could be avoided if the cecal-culture treatment was delayed by 3 to 4 days after antibiotic injection. Under field conditions, there was a significant reduction in the salmonella contamination of turkeys and their environment when cecal culture was given to poults raised on wood-shavings litter sprayed with a quaternary ammonium compound. When used alone, both the cecal culture and the litter disinfectant were ineffective in preventing the establishment of S. heidelberg infection. Further studies are required to confirm the possibility of a synergistic effect between the two treatments. For the control of salmonella in turkeys, use of cecal cultures may be limited by the interference of antibiotics and by their failure to protect against pretreatment exposure to salmonella.