CE under the microscope

摘要

The inoculation of the gastrointestinal tract (GI) of newly hatched chickens with a complex mixture of bacteria from adult chickens to prevent colonisation by pathogens is called competitive exclusion (CE). Although the phenomenon is natural, it is only in the last three decades that it has been practiced artificially. In nature one of the first things a chick does is eat the droppings from its mother hen which inoculates its Gl tract with the bacteria from her. This event, when allowed to occur, assures the newly hatched chick of a complement of bacteria that wilt colonise its Gl tract and rapidly mature the ecosystem within.