Intestinal Microbiome Confers Robust Colonization Resistance Against Necrotic Enteritis in Chickens
To investigate the difference in the gut microbiome between NE-resistant and NE-susceptible chickens, Fayoumi M5.1 (FM5.1, NE-resistant), Leghorn Ghs.6 (Ghs6) and Cobb chickens (NE-susceptible) were obtained, and NE was induced by challenged with the Eimeria maxima on day 10, followed by two subsequent inoculations of Clostridium perfringens on days 14 and 15. Cecal microbiota transplantation (CMT) was further conducted to evaluate the efficacy of resistance-associated gut bacteria in alleviation of NE. For this, a total of 120 Cobb-500 day-of-hatch chicks were obtained and randomly divided into 8 groups, with each group receiving cecal material from NE-resistant FM5.1, susceptible Ghs6 and Cobb, or an equal volume of PBS via oral gavage on days 0, 1, 9, and 13. Additionally, half groups were challenged with E. maxima on day 10 and C. perfringens on day 14 to induce NE. For both trials, we record animal mortality after infection and assessed intestinal lesions on d 17. Ileal and cecal digesta were collected on d 17 and subjected to 16S rRNA sequencing for microbiome analysis.