Dataset Information

Fecal Microbiota Transplant from Highly Feed-Efficient Donors Shows Little Effect on Age-Related Changes in Feed-Efficiency-Associated Fecal Microbiota from Chickens.

ABSTRACT: Chickens with good or poor feed efficiency (FE) have been shown to differ in their intestinal microbiota composition. This study investigated differences in the fecal bacterial community of highly and poorly feed-efficient chickens at 16 and 29 days posthatch (dph) and evaluated whether a fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) from feed-efficient donors early in life can affect the fecal microbiota in chickens at 16 and 29 dph and chicken FE and nutrient retention at 4 weeks of age. A total of 110 chickens were inoculated with a FMT or a control transplant (CT) on dph 1, 6, and 9 and ranked according to residual feed intake (RFI; the metric for FE) on 30 dph. Fifty-six chickens across both inoculation groups were selected as the extremes in RFI (29 low, 27 high). RFI-related fecal bacterial profiles were discernible at 16 and 29 dph. In particular, Lactobacillus salivarius, Lactobacillus crispatus, and Anaerobacterium operational taxonomic units were associated with low RFI (good FE). Multiple administrations of the FMT only slightly changed the fecal bacterial composition, which was supported by weighted UniFrac analysis, showing similar bacterial communities in the feces of both inoculation groups at 16 and 29 dph. Moreover, the FMT did not change the RFI and nutrient retention of highly and poorly feed-efficient recipients, whereas it tended to increase feed intake and body weight gain in female chickens. This finding suggests that host- and environment-related factors may more strongly affect chicken fecal microbiota and FE than the FMT.IMPORTANCE Modulating the chicken's early microbial colonization using a FMT from highly feed-efficient donor chickens may be a promising tool to establish a more desirable bacterial profile in recipient chickens, thereby improving host FE. Although FE-associated fecal bacterial profiles at 16 and 29 dph could be established, the microbiota composition of a FMT, when administered early in life, may not be a strong factor modulating the fecal microbiota at 2 to 4 weeks of life and reducing the variation in chicken's FE. Nevertheless, the present FMT may have potential benefits for growth performance in female chickens.

SUBMITTER: Siegerstetter SC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5752867 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Fecal Microbiota Transplant from Highly Feed-Efficient Donors Shows Little Effect on Age-Related Changes in Feed-Efficiency-Associated Fecal Microbiota from Chickens.

Siegerstetter Sina-Catherine SC Petri Renée M RM Magowan Elizabeth E Lawlor Peadar G PG Zebeli Qendrim Q O'Connell Niamh E NE Metzler-Zebeli Barbara U BU

Applied and environmental microbiology 20180102 2

Chickens with good or poor feed efficiency (FE) have been shown to differ in their intestinal microbiota composition. This study investigated differences in the fecal bacterial community of highly and poorly feed-efficient chickens at 16 and 29 days posthatch (dph) and evaluated whether a fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) from feed-efficient donors early in life can affect the fecal microbiota in chickens at 16 and 29 dph and chicken FE and nutrient retention at 4 weeks of age. A total of 110 ch ...[more]

PMID: 29101192

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Project description: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 residual feed intake (RFI; a metric for FE). Chicks (n = 110) were inoculated with the FMT or control transplant (CT) on 1, 6, and 9 days posthatch (dph), from which 56 chickens were selected on 30 dph as the extremes in RFI, resulting in 15 low and 13 high RFI chickens receiving the FMT and 14 low and 14 high RFI chickens receiving the CT. RFI rank and FMT only caused tendencies for alterations in the jejunal microbiota and only one unclassified Lachnospiraceae genus in cecal digesta was indicative of high RFI. By contrast, the FMT caused clear differences in the short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) profile in the crop and cecal microbiota composition compared to the CT, which indicated alterations in amylolytic, pullulanolytic and hemicellulolytic bacteria such as Lactobacillus, Dorea, and Ruminococcus. Moreover, the FMT caused alterations in intestinal development as indicated by the longer duodenum and shallower crypts in the ceca. From the observed RFI-associated variation, energy-saving mechanisms and moderation of the mucosal immune response were indicated by higher jejunal permeability, shorter villi in the ileum, and enhanced cecal expression of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL10 in low RFI chickens. Relationships obtained from supervised multigroup data integration support that certain bacteria, including Ruminococcocaceae-, Lactobacillus-, and unclassified Clostridiales-phylotypes, and SCFA in jejunal and cecal digesta modulated expression levels of cytokines, tight-junction protein OCLN and nutrient transporters for glucose and SCFA uptake. In conclusion, results suggest that the intestine only played a moderate role for the RFI-associated variation of the present low and high RFI phenotypes, whereas modulating the early microbial colonization resulted in long-lasting changes in bacterial taxonomic and metabolite composition as well as in host intestinal development.

Project description:There is a great interest to understand the impact of the gut microbiota on host's nutrient use and FE in chicken production. Both chicken's feed intake and gut bacterial microbiota differ between high and low-feed efficient chickens. To evaluate the impact of the feed intake level on the feed efficiency (FE)-associated variation in the chicken intestinal microbiota, differently feed efficient chickens need to eat the same amount of feed, which can be achieved by feeding chickens restrictively. Therefore, we investigated the effect of restrictive vs. ad libitum feeding on the fecal microbiome at 16 and 29 days posthatch (dph), FE and nutrient retention in chickens of low and high residual feed intake (RFI; metric for FE). Restrictively fed chickens were provided the same amount of feed which corresponded to 85% of the ad libitum fed group from 9 dph. FE was determined for the period between 9 and 30 dph and feces for nutrient retention were collected on 31 to 32 dph. From the 112 chickens (n = 56 fed ad libitum, and n = 56 fed restrictively), 14 low RFI and 15 high RFI ad libitum fed chickens, and 14 low RFI (n = 7 per sex) and 14 high RFI restrictively fed chickens were selected as the extremes in RFI and were retrospectively chosen for data analysis. Bray-Curtis dissimilarity matrices showed significant separation between time points, and feeding level groups at 29 dph for the fecal bacterial communities. Relevance networking indicated positive associations between Acinetobacter and feed intake at 16 dph, whereas at 29 dph Escherichia/Shigella and Turicibacter positively and Lactobacillus negatively correlated to chicken's feed intake. Enterobacteriaceae was indicative for low RFI at 16 dph, whereas Acinetobacter was linked to high RFI across time points. However, restrictive feeding-associated changes in the fecal microbiota were not similar in low and high RFI chickens, which may have been related to the higher nutrient retention and thus lower fecal nutrient availability in restrictively fed high RFI chickens. This may also explain the decreased RFI value in restrictively fed high RFI chickens indicating improved FE, with a stronger effect in females.

Project description:BackgroundFeed contributes most to livestock production costs. Improving feed efficiency is crucial to increase profitability and sustainability for animal production. Host genetics and the gut microbiota can both influence the host phenotype. However, the association between the gut microbiota and host genetics and their joint contribution to feed efficiency in chickens is largely unclear.ResultsHere, we examined microbial data from the duodenum, jejunum, ileum, cecum, and feces in 206 chickens and their host genotypes and confirmed that the microbial phenotypes and co-occurrence networks exhibited dramatic spatial heterogeneity along the digestive tract. The correlations between host genetic kinship and gut microbial similarities within different sampling sites were weak, with coefficients ranging from - 0.07 to 0.08. However, microbial genome-wide analysis revealed that genetic markers near or inside the genes MTHFD1L and LARGE1 were associated with the abundances of cecal Megasphaera and Parabacteroides, respectively. The effect of host genetics on residual feed intake (RFI) was 39%. We further identified three independent genetic variations that were related to feed efficiency and had a modest effect on the gut microbiota. The contributions of the gut microbiota from the different parts of the intestinal tract on RFI were distinct. The cecal microbiota accounted for 28% of the RFI variance, a value higher than that explained by the duodenal, jejunal, ileal, and fecal microbiota. Additionally, six bacteria exhibited significant associations with RFI. Specifically, lower abundances of duodenal Akkermansia muciniphila and cecal Parabacteroides and higher abundances of cecal Lactobacillus, Corynebacterium, Coprobacillus, and Slackia were related to better feed efficiency.ConclusionsOur findings solidified the notion that both host genetics and the gut microbiota, especially the cecal microbiota, can drive the variation in feed efficiency. Although host genetics has a limited effect on the entire microbial community, a small fraction of gut microorganisms tends to interact with host genes, jointly contributing to feed efficiency. Therefore, the gut microbiota and host genetic variations can be simultaneously targeted by favoring more-efficient taxa and selective breeding to improve feed efficiency in chickens. Video abstract.

Project description:A biphasic feeding regimen exerts an improvement effect on feed efficiency of pigs. While gut microbiome and metabolome are known to affect the host phenotype, so far the effects of reduced feeding frequency on fecal microbiota and their metabolism in pigs remain unclear. Here, the combination of 16S rRNA sequencing technique as well as untargeted and targeted metabolome analyses was adopted to investigate the fecal microbiome and metabolome of growing–finishing pigs in response to a biphasic feeding [two meals per day (M2)] pattern. Sixty crossbred barrows were randomly assigned into two groups with 10 replicates (three pigs/pen), namely, the free-access feeding group (FA) and the M2 group. Pigs in the FA group were fed free access while those in the M2 group were fed ad libitum twice daily for 1 h at 8:00 and 18:00. Results showed that pigs fed biphasically exhibited increased feed efficiency compared to FA pigs. The Shannon and Simpson indexes were significantly increased by reducing the feeding frequency. In the biphasic-fed pigs, the relative abundances of Subdoligranulum, Roseburia, Mitsuokella, and Terrisporobacter were significantly increased while the relative abundances of unidentified_Spirochaetaceae, Methanobrevibacter, unidentified_Bacteroidales, Alloprevotella, Parabacteroides, and Bacteroides were significantly decreased compared to FA pigs. Partial least-square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) analysis revealed an obvious variation between the FA and M2 groups; the differential features were mainly involved in arginine, proline, glycine, serine, threonine, and tryptophan metabolism as well as primary bile acid (BA) biosynthesis. In addition, the changes in the microbial genera were correlated with the differential fecal metabolites. A biphasic feeding regimen significantly increased the abundances of primary BAs and secondary BAs in feces of pigs, and the differentially enriched BAs were positively correlated with some specific genera. Taken together, these results suggest that the improvement effect of a reduced feeding frequency on feed efficiency of pigs might be associated with the altered fecal microbial composition and fecal metabolite profile in particular the enlarged stool BA pool.

Dataset Information

Fecal Microbiota Transplant from Highly Feed-Efficient Donors Shows Little Effect on Age-Related Changes in Feed-Efficiency-Associated Fecal Microbiota from Chickens.

Publications

Fecal Microbiota Transplant from Highly Feed-Efficient Donors Shows Little Effect on Age-Related Changes in Feed-Efficiency-Associated Fecal Microbiota from Chickens.

Similar Datasets

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