Location: Animal Biosciences & Biotechnology Laboratory
Project Number: 8042-31000-114-006-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 14, 2023
End Date: Sep 13, 2024
Objective:
Sustainable agriculture and providing food for the growing world population require increased production efficiencies of food-producing animals, including poultry. Suboptimal efficiency of converting ingested nutrients into edible/marketable chicken products is the single most costly component of production economics in the current broiler industry. For the past several decades, significant improvements in nutrient utilization efficiency in broilers were attained with the use of antibiotics growth promoters (AGPs) that successfully limited many aspects of infection, inflammation, and stress; however, the use of antimicrobials as AGPs has been discontinued in conjunction with observed increases in microbial drug resistance. The current challenge for the broiler industry is to maintain or increase the efficiency of feed utilization through a decrease in feed conversion ratio (FCR) in the absence of AGPs using new feeding strategies. The development of new information regarding the fundamental nature of the interactions that exist between nutritional composition, the intestinal microbiota, and the tissues and functions of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) will play a significant role in defining the pathways leading towards the development of alternatives to antibiotics (ATAs) to support growth promotion and feed efficiency (FE) in broilers. Most of the current research primarily focuses on the composition of chicken microbiota using 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequencing; however, the function of GIT microbiota remains elusive. The overall goal of the project is to determine the role and function of the chicken microbiome. For this aim, we propose to determine the composition and function of GIT microbiota using metagenomic approaches. Obtained results will provide basic knowledge of microbiome in broiler chickens.
Approach:
To determine chicken gastrointestinal microbiota composition and function, Fertile Ross 708 eggs obtained from a local hatchery will be incubated for 21 days under standard conditions. Immediately after hatching, 12 hatchlings will be euthanized
for tissue collection. The remaining birds will be divided into 8 experimental replicates. Birds will have ad libitum access to a standard commercial type of corn-soybean meal diet. In addition to samples collected at hatch, samples will be collected at 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42-days post-hatch. The first two-three weeks early PH are considered as developmental stage of the microbiota, when rapid changes in composition are occurring as the microbiota is establishing; therefore, more frequent sampling has been selected during the first two weeks PH. At each sampling time point, feed and birds from each experimental group will be weighed to determine FI, BWG, and FCR. The sex of the birds will be determined during samples collection. The digesta will be collected from the duodenum, jejunum, ileum, and ceca (100-200 mg per
analysis) to isolate bacterial DNA. Metagenome analysis (sequencing and bioinformatics) will be performed by the Cooperator.
