Miller Elizabeth A, Winfield Brittanie, Weber Bonnie P, Flores-Figueroa Cristian, Munoz-Aguayo Jeannette, Huisinga Jared, Johnson Timothy J
Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA.
University of Minnesota, Mid-Central Research and Outreach Center, Willmar, MN, USA.
J Anim Sci Biotechnol. 2021 May 5;12(1):59. doi: 10.1186/s40104-021-00580-4.
Microbiota development is a critical aspect of turkey poult maturation, and the succession of microbes in the turkey gut has been shown to correlate with poult performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the fate of the microbiota in turkey poults after movement of birds first raised in an isolated hatch brood system into a more traditional commercial brood facility with pre-existing birds. Turkey poults were first divided into groups raised in conventional brood pens from day-of-hatch and those raised in an experimental hatch brood system. After 11 days of growth, hatch brood birds were moved into pens within the conventional brood barn and monitored for an additional 18 days. Sampling of both hatch brood and conventional pen birds was performed at multiple timepoints throughout the study, and cecal content was used to analyze the bacterial microbiota using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing.
Alpha diversity tended to be higher in samples from conventional pen birds compared to those from hatch brood birds prior to the day 11 move, but the difference between systems was not observed post-move. Using beta diversity metrics, bacterial community succession appeared delayed in the hatch brood system birds pre-move, but post-move community composition quickly converged with that of the conventional pen birds. This was validated through assessment of significantly different genera between hatch brood system and conventional pen birds, where numbers of significantly different taxa quickly decreased following the move. Some key taxa previously associated with poult performance were delayed in their appearance and relative abundance in hatch brood birds.
Overall, this study demonstrates that the use of isolated hatch brood systems has an impact on the poult gut microbiota, but its impact is resolved quickly once the birds are introduced into a conventional brood environment. Therefore, the benefits of pathogen reduction with hatch brood systems may outweigh negative microbiota impacts due to isolation.
微生物群的发育是火鸡雏鸡成熟的一个关键方面，并且火鸡肠道中微生物的演替已被证明与雏鸡性能相关。本研究的目的是确定最初在隔离的孵化育雏系统中饲养的火鸡雏鸡转移到有原有鸡群的更传统的商业育雏设施后，其微生物群的命运。火鸡雏鸡首先被分为从孵化日起就在传统育雏栏中饲养的组和在实验性孵化育雏系统中饲养的组。生长11天后，孵化育雏的鸡被转移到传统育雏舍内的栏中，并再监测18天。在整个研究过程中的多个时间点对孵化育雏和传统栏中的鸡进行采样，并使用16S rRNA基因扩增子测序分析盲肠内容物中的细菌微生物群。
在第11天转移前，来自传统栏中鸡的样本的α多样性往往高于来自孵化育雏鸡的样本，但转移后未观察到系统之间的差异。使用β多样性指标，孵化育雏系统中的鸡在转移前细菌群落演替似乎延迟，但转移后群落组成迅速与传统栏中的鸡趋同。这通过评估孵化育雏系统和传统栏中的鸡之间显著不同的属得到验证，转移后显著不同的分类单元数量迅速减少。一些先前与雏鸡性能相关的关键分类单元在孵化育雏鸡中的出现和相对丰度延迟。
总体而言，本研究表明使用隔离的孵化育雏系统对雏鸡肠道微生物群有影响，但一旦将鸡引入传统育雏环境，其影响很快就会消除。因此，孵化育雏系统减少病原体的益处可能超过因隔离对微生物群产生的负面影响。
