The role of supplemental glycine on broilers performance under subclinical necrotic enteritis

Coccidial co-infection, dietary inclusion of viscous grains and ingredients of animal origin protein are considered important predisposing factors for onset of necrotic enteritis (NE). High dietary glycine levels has been shown to increase the intestinal 'C. perfringens' population in broilers (Dahiya et al. 2005). As the causative agent for NE, the spore germination of 'C. perfringens' can be activated by the spore cortex-lytic enzyme (SCLE) coded by SleC thus to cause gastrointestinal disease. Investigations have shown that glycine forms a conjugated compound with bile salts playing a critical role in Clostridial germination (Sorg and Sonenshein 2008). This compound is recognized by the germinant receptor, CspC and is responsible for cleaving the N-terminal propeptide of SleC, expressing mature SCLE to activate its hydrolase activity. The current study assessed the impact of a high dietary glycine inclusion on performance of broilers under subclinical necrotic enteritis challenge.