Khan Samiullah, Chousalkar Kapil K
School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy, South Australia, 5371, Australia.
Anim Microbiome. 2021 Jul 27;3(1):50. doi: 10.1186/s42523-021-00112-5.
The chicken gut microbiota passes through different stages of maturation; therefore, strengthening it with well characterised probiotics increases its resilience required for optimum gut health and wellbeing. However, there is limited information on the interaction of Bacillus based probiotics with gut microbial community members in cage free laying chickens both in rearing and production phases of life. In the current study, we investigated the changes in the gut microbiome of free range hens in the field after Bacillus based probiotic supplementation.
Overall, at phylum level, probiotic supplementation increased the populations of Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria mainly at the expense of Firmicutes. The population of Bacteroidetes significantly increased during the production as compared to the rearing phase, and its higher population in the probiotic-supplemented chickens reflects the positive role of Bacillus based probiotic in gut health. Core differences in the beta diversity suggest that probiotic supplementation decreased microbial compositionality. The non-significant difference in alpha diversity between the probiotic and control chickens showed that the composition of community structure did not change. No Salmonella spp. were isolated from the probiotic supplemented birds. Egg internal quality was significantly higher, while egg production and body weight did not differ. Functional prediction data showed that probiotic supplementation enriched metabolic pathways, such as vitamin B6 metabolism, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, monobactam biosynthesis, RNA degradation, retinol metabolism, pantothenate and CoA biosynthesis, phosphonate and phosphinate metabolism, AMPK signaling pathway, cationic antimicrobial peptide (CAMP) resistance and tyrosine metabolism.
Overall, age was the main factor affecting the composition and diversity of gut microbiota, where probiotic supplementation improved the abundance of many useful candidates in the gut microbial communities. The generated baseline data in the current study highlights the importance of the continuous use of Bacillus based probiotic for optimum gut health and production.
鸡的肠道微生物群会经历不同的成熟阶段；因此，用特征明确的益生菌强化肠道微生物群可增强其恢复力，这是实现最佳肠道健康和福祉所必需的。然而，关于基于芽孢杆菌的益生菌与笼养蛋鸡在饲养和生产阶段肠道微生物群落成员之间相互作用的信息有限。在本研究中，我们调查了在田间对自由放养母鸡补充基于芽孢杆菌的益生菌后肠道微生物组的变化。
总体而言，在门水平上，补充益生菌主要以厚壁菌门为代价增加了拟杆菌门和变形菌门的数量。与饲养阶段相比，生产期间拟杆菌门的数量显著增加，在补充益生菌的鸡中其数量更高，这反映了基于芽孢杆菌的益生菌对肠道健康的积极作用。β多样性的核心差异表明补充益生菌降低了微生物组成。益生菌鸡和对照鸡之间α多样性的非显著差异表明群落结构的组成没有变化。在补充益生菌的鸡中未分离出沙门氏菌属。鸡蛋内部品质显著更高，而产蛋量和体重没有差异。功能预测数据表明，补充益生菌丰富了代谢途径，如维生素B6代谢、苯丙烷类生物合成、单环β-内酰胺生物合成、RNA降解、视黄醇代谢、泛酸和辅酶A生物合成、膦酸盐和次膦酸盐代谢、AMPK信号通路、阳离子抗菌肽（CAMP）抗性和酪氨酸代谢。
总体而言，年龄是影响肠道微生物群组成和多样性的主要因素，补充益生菌可改善肠道微生物群落中许多有益菌种的丰度。本研究中生成的基线数据突出了持续使用基于芽孢杆菌的益生菌对实现最佳肠道健康和生产的重要性。
