Vaccination against Lawsonia intracellularis has been successfully used to reduce lesions of proliferative enteritis (PE) and bacterial shedding in faeces, with induction of systemic and local immune responses (Nogueira et ah, 2013). Beta-glucans ((3-glucans), polymers present in many fungi, yeast and bacterial cell walls, are also known to enhance innate immune responses. The synergistic effect of dietary P-glucans and specific immune responses has been previously correlated with increased growth performance and resistance to Streptococcus suis in weaner pigs (Dritz et ah, 1995). Such studies have not been conducted with L. intracellularis. In this experiment, we hypothesised that addition of P-glucan yeast to a weaner pig diet would enhance immune responses to oral vaccination with L. intracellularis.
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