title: Dietary supplementation with the clay mineral palygorskite affects performance and beneficially modulates caecal microbiota in laying pullets.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was twofold: (i) to examine the effect of early-posthatch dietary inclusion of the clay mineral palygorskite on laying pullets' growth and (ii) to determine the potential effects of the latter diet on caecal microbial communities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four hundred and thirty-two female, 1-day-old Hyline Brown chickens were equally and randomly allocated to two dietary treatment groups; control and palygorskite (0 and 0·5% palygorskite respectively). They were reared in floor pens for 18 weeks. Feed intake, feed conversion ratio, body weight gain and uniformity were assessed. At the end of the rearing period, 53 birds per group were transferred to laying cages without any changes in their respective dietary treatments. At onset of lay, eight birds from each group were euthanized and their caeca were obtained for analysis. Culture-independent and sequencing-based methods were used to analyse caecal microbial composition.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Palygorskite dietary supplementation increased the uniformity of the relative group at the end of the rearing period. Pullets that received palygorskite had different and more homogeneous caecal microbial profiles at onset of lay when compared to controls. Moreover, in the caeca of the former pullets a more favourable microbiota was evident; it comprised largely of bacteria that are major degraders of resistant polysaccharides and efficient in butyrate production.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The novelty of this study lies to the beneficial effect of palygorskite (a clay mineral) to pullets growth and health, likely through modulation of the gut microbiota.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chalvatzi
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.|Division of Technology and Sciences, American College of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kalamaki
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arsenos
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fortomaris
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000382:microbiology; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary*; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D005260:Female; D017616:Magnesium Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology*; D064307:Microbiota / Q000187:drug effects; D017655:Silicon Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D017616:Magnesium Compounds; D017655:Silicon Compounds; C026325:attapulgite
keywords: DGGE; caecal microbiota; next generation sequencing; palygorskite; performance; pullet