Institute of Animal Nutrition and Functional Plant Compounds, Department for Farm Animals and Veterinary Public Health, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Agriculture Branch, Hillsborough, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2018 Jan 2;84(2). doi: 10.1128/AEM.02330-17. Print 2018 Jan 15.
Chickens with good or poor feed efficiency (FE) have been shown to differ in their intestinal microbiota composition. This study investigated differences in the fecal bacterial community of highly and poorly feed-efficient chickens at 16 and 29 days posthatch (dph) and evaluated whether a fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) from feed-efficient donors early in life can affect the fecal microbiota in chickens at 16 and 29 dph and chicken FE and nutrient retention at 4 weeks of age. A total of 110 chickens were inoculated with a FMT or a control transplant (CT) on dph 1, 6, and 9 and ranked according to residual feed intake (RFI; the metric for FE) on 30 dph. Fifty-six chickens across both inoculation groups were selected as the extremes in RFI (29 low, 27 high). RFI-related fecal bacterial profiles were discernible at 16 and 29 dph. In particular, , , and operational taxonomic units were associated with low RFI (good FE). Multiple administrations of the FMT only slightly changed the fecal bacterial composition, which was supported by weighted UniFrac analysis, showing similar bacterial communities in the feces of both inoculation groups at 16 and 29 dph. Moreover, the FMT did not change the RFI and nutrient retention of highly and poorly feed-efficient recipients, whereas it tended to increase feed intake and body weight gain in female chickens. This finding suggests that host- and environment-related factors may more strongly affect chicken fecal microbiota and FE than the FMT. Modulating the chicken's early microbial colonization using a FMT from highly feed-efficient donor chickens may be a promising tool to establish a more desirable bacterial profile in recipient chickens, thereby improving host FE. Although FE-associated fecal bacterial profiles at 16 and 29 dph could be established, the microbiota composition of a FMT, when administered early in life, may not be a strong factor modulating the fecal microbiota at 2 to 4 weeks of life and reducing the variation in chicken's FE. Nevertheless, the present FMT may have potential benefits for growth performance in female chickens.
具有良好或较差饲料效率 (FE) 的鸡在肠道微生物群落组成上存在差异。本研究在孵化后 16 和 29 天 (dph) 时，研究了高饲料效率和低饲料效率鸡的粪便细菌群落的差异，并评估了早期从饲料效率高的供体进行粪便微生物群移植 (FMT) 是否可以影响 16 和 29 dph 时鸡的粪便微生物群以及 4 周龄时鸡的 FE 和养分保留。共有 110 只鸡在 dph 1、6 和 9 时接种 FMT 或对照移植 (CT)，并根据 30 dph 的残留饲料摄入量 (RFI; FE 的度量) 进行排名。在两个接种组中，56 只鸡都选择了 RFI 的极值 (29 只低，27 只高)。在 16 和 29 dph 时可以分辨出与 RFI 相关的粪便细菌特征。特别是 、 和 操作分类单元与低 RFI (良好 FE) 相关。多次给予 FMT 仅略微改变粪便细菌组成，加权 UniFrac 分析支持这一结果，表明在 16 和 29 dph 时，两个接种组的粪便细菌群落相似。此外，FMT 并未改变高饲料效率和低饲料效率接受者的 RFI 和养分保留，而它倾向于增加雌性鸡的采食量和体重增加。这一发现表明，宿主和环境相关因素可能比 FMT 更强烈地影响鸡的粪便微生物群和 FE。使用高饲料效率供体鸡的 FMT 调节鸡的早期微生物定植可能是一种很有前途的工具，可以在接受鸡中建立更理想的细菌特征，从而提高宿主 FE。尽管在 16 和 29 dph 时可以建立与 FE 相关的粪便细菌特征，但在生命早期给予 FMT 时，其微生物组成可能不是调节 2 至 4 周龄时粪便微生物群并减少鸡 FE 变异的主要因素。尽管如此，本研究的 FMT 可能对雌性鸡的生长性能有潜在益处。
