PRJNA529338
chicken gut metagenome Metagenome
Fecal microbiota transplants (FMT) may be used to improve chicken's feed efficiency (FE) via modulation of the intestinal microbiota and microbe-host signaling. This study investigated the effect of the administration of FMT from highly feed efficient donors early in life on the jejunal and cecal microbiota, visceral organ size, intestinal morphology, permeability, and expression of genes for nutrient transporters, barrier function and innate immune response in chickens of diverging FE. In order to modulate the gut microbiota towards a gut microbiota that improves feed efficiency, we investigated whether multiple administrations of a fecal microbial transplant from highly feed efficient donors in the first week post-hatch could improve feed efficiency in poorly feed efficient chickens. Differences in chicken jejunal and cecal microbiota composition and gut structure and functioning were assessed on 33 days post-hatch, and were related to chicken's residual feed intake (RFI; metric for feed efficiency), which was determined for the experimental period between day 9 and 30 post-hatch. At day 30 posthatch, chickens with extreme RFI values (low RFI = good feed efficiency; high RFI = poor feed efficiency) were selected, and only the 16S rRNA gene of DNA from jejunal and cecal samples from selected chickens was sequenced.