Effect of a functional encapsulated multivitamin on immune and oxidative responses in broiler chickens subjected to environmental and pathogenic stressors

Commercial broiler chickens experience stressors from environmental conditions and pathogenic infections, which alter their well-being and challenge their immune system and antioxidant status, leading to high mortality, which results in significant economic losses to farmers. Developing approaches to mitigate these stressors is critical given the increased demand to raise chickens without preventive antibiotics. Several vitamins are potent antioxidants and coenzymes for crucial biological processes and thus present a successful strategy to combat management, environmental and pathogenic stresses. Traditionally, these vitamins are incorporated into broiler chickens' diets in free form which makes them prone to oxidation and heat damage during feed processing, thereby reducing their effectiveness in the gastrointestinal tract. Encapsulation technology protects and stabilizes oxidizable substrates to achieve targeted delivery and enhance their health-promoting effects. Therefore, encapsulated multivitamins promise to be an effective intervention strategy, with significant merits over the unprotected multivitamins that are currently used in the industry. Moreover, their ability to boost the immune and antioxidant statuses presents them as a suitable antibiotic alternative, which promises to help save the $1.4 billion that Canadian healthcare system spends annually on antibiotic resistance-related infections. We propose to use an encapsulated multivitamin supplement to mitigate the stress induced by temperature challenge, E. coli, and Eimeria spp. (which cost the global poultry industry over 18 billion US dollars annually). The project will employ an array of experimental, statistical, and analytical techniques thus offering outstanding opportunities for HQP training - 1 Ph.D. and 2 undergraduate students. Results will be directly transmitted into use through a partnership with Jefo Nutrition Incorporation - a big player in the poultry industry who works with poultry farmers, feed manufacturers, premix companies, leading research institutes, and universities in Canada to create products that improve animal performance and well-being, thus increasing farmers' profit and their subsequent contributions to the Canadian economy.