Prevention of Salmonella typhimurium colonization of broilers with D-mannose.

Broiler chickens can be contaminated by Salmonella typhimurium, which is a food safety concern. It has been previously shown that D-mannose blocks S. typhimurium adherence to chicken intestine in vitro. One-day-old broiler chickens were fed normal drinking water or drinking water supplemented with 2.5% mannose for 10 days. On Day 3, both groups were challenged orally with 1 x 10(8) S. typhimurium [ST-10 (Animal Diagnostics Laboratory, Ames, IA)] resistant to Nal and Nov (Sigma, St. Louis, MO). On Day 10 the birds' caecal contents were examined for the antibiotic-marked S. typhimurium. Two additional groups of birds were provided normal drinking water or mannose but were not challenged with the bacteria. Salmonella-challenged control chickens were 78, 82, and 93% colonized whereas Salmonella-challenged mannose-treated chickens were only 28, 21, and 43% colonized. Moreover, the mean log10 counts of control and mannose groups were significantly (P less than .001) reduced by at least 99%. Mannose-supplemented drinking water had no effect on weight gains. Certain carbohydrates may provide a means to reduce S. typhimurium contamination in broilers.