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To develop cultures of indigenous bacteria from the intestinal tract of cattle or swine and for use as probiotics to enhance resistance against enteropathogens that cause diseases in animal or human hosts.
Research will be focused on the development of defined probiotic cultures that effectively enhance resistance to enteropathogen growth and colonization.Studies will be conducted to identify the mechanism(s) of protection provided by the indigenous intestinal microflora. Emphasis will be placed on the development of probiotics that are cost-effective and readily incorporated into the swine or beef industries.
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METHODOLOGY: Continuous-flow culture systems designed to model the gut ecosystems of host animals will be employed as a major research approach. Selected mixed cultures of indigenous flora will be maintained in steady state continuous culture and evaluated in vitro for bacteriostatic/bacteriocidal effects on enteric pathogens such as Salmonella or enterotoxogenic Escherichia coli. Selected cultures that effectively control enteropathogen growth and establishment in vitro will be evaluated for efficacy in the host animal.</p>