[Microbial colonisation of the caecal mucosa of specific pathogen-free chicks and adherence of an adult SPF chicken microflora to the caeca of a conventional newly hatched chick: study by scanning electron microscopy].
Two studies were conducted by SEM in order to evaluate the relationship between the caecal microflora morphology and the age of SPF chicks and the colonising of an adult SPF chick caecal microflora to the caecal mucosa of conventional newly hatched chicks. These experiments indicated that the number of 'adhering' bacteria increases with the age of the chick, that the morphological and quantitative changes of the caecal microflora are completed by about 15 days of age and that a complete bacterial colonisation of the caecal wall of a newly hatched chick occurs only 24 h after treatment with an adult caecal microflora.
Humbert
F
F
Station Experimentale d' Aviculture, Laboratoire National de Pathologie Aviaire, Ministere de l'Agriculture, Centre National d'Etudes Veterinaires et Alimentaires, Ploufragan, France.
Salvat
G
G
Morin
M
M
Colin
P
P
Lahellec
C
C
Bennejean
G
G