Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
McMaster Brain-Body Institute, St. Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Sci Rep. 2020 Jul 31;10(1):12978. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-69928-6.
The gut-microbiota-brain axis is implicated in the development of behavioural disorders in mammals. As such, its potential role in disruptive feather pecking (FP) in birds cannot be ignored. Birds with a higher propensity to perform FP have distinct microbiota profiles and feed transit times compared to non-pecking counterparts. Consequently, we hypothesize that the gut microbiota is intimately linked to FP and gut motility, which presents the possibility of using probiotics to control FP behaviour. In the present study, we aim to assess the relationship between cecal motility and the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus in chickens classified as peckers (P, 13 birds) and non-peckers (NP, 17 birds). We show that cecal contractions were 68% less frequent and their amplitude increased by 58% in the presence of L. rhamnosus. Furthermore, the number of FP bouts performed by P birds was positively correlated with contraction velocity and amplitude. We present the first account of gut motility measurements in birds with distinct FP phenotypes. Importantly, the present work demonstrates the clear impact of a probiotic on cecal contractions. These findings lay the foundation for identifying biological differences between P and NP birds which will support the development of FP control strategies.
肠-微生物群-脑轴与哺乳动物行为障碍的发展有关。因此，它在鸟类啄羽行为（FP）中的潜在作用不容忽视。与不啄羽的鸟类相比，具有更高啄羽倾向的鸟类具有明显不同的微生物群谱和饲料通过时间。因此，我们假设肠道微生物群与 FP 和肠道动力密切相关，这为使用益生菌来控制 FP 行为提供了可能性。在本研究中，我们旨在评估盲肠动力与分类为啄羽者（P，13 只鸟）和非啄羽者（NP，17 只鸟）的鸡中益生菌鼠李糖乳杆菌之间的关系。我们表明，在存在鼠李糖乳杆菌的情况下，盲肠收缩的频率降低了 68%，振幅增加了 58%。此外，啄羽者 P 鸟类的啄羽次数与收缩速度和振幅呈正相关。我们首次报道了具有不同 FP 表型的鸟类的肠道动力测量。重要的是，本工作清楚地表明了益生菌对盲肠收缩的明显影响。这些发现为确定 P 和 NP 鸟类之间的生物学差异奠定了基础，这将支持 FP 控制策略的发展。
