Figure 1.

Oral administration of lactobacilli and their effect on the resistance of chickens to S. Enteritidis. S. Enteritidis counts in the liver and caecum did not differ in control (CTRL) or experimental chickens given lactobacilli for 8 days only prior to S. Enteritidis infection (Lact8) or throughout the whole experiment (Lact12). The presence of lactobacilli and S. Enteritidis used in this experiment was determined by real-time PCR performed both on day 8 and day 12 of life, showing a similar abundance of lactobacilli and S. Enteritidis in the tested caeca.