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The gut microbiota of chickens in a commercial farm treated with a Salmonella phage cocktail.

ABSTRACT: The microbiota in broiler chicken intestines affects the animals' health, metabolism, and immunity both positively and negatively. Accordingly, it has a significant impact on animal productivity. Phages, host-specific parasites of bacterial cells, are a promising antimicrobial alternative that selectively target pathogens without disturbing the microbiota. The purpose of this study is to further characterize the commensal microbial community at production scale in broiler chickens treated with a Salmonella phage treatment. We evaluated the cecal microbiota of broilers reared in a commercial farming system where a phage cocktail against Salmonella, SalmoFree was supplied to animals. To do so, two field trials were conducted, incorporating three doses of phages in the broilers' drinking water. Our results showed that the core microbiome (taxa that were present in more than 50% of samples) contained species that are key to microbiota adaptation in the last stage of the production cycle. Among these, there are some important degraders of complex polysaccharides and producers of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) such as Eisenbergiella and Lachnoclostridium. The phage cocktail did not affect the normal development of the microbiota's structure. The addition of the phage cocktail resulted in a significant reduction in Campylobacter and an increase in Butyricimonas, Helicobacter and Rikenellaceae, which are common inhabitants in chicken gut with known negative and positive effects on their health and metabolism. Altogether, we consider that these results contribute valuable information to the implementation of large-scale phage therapy technologies.

SUBMITTER: Clavijo V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8770602 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The digestive and respiratory tracts of chickens are colonized by bacteria that are believed to play important roles in the overall health and performance of the birds. Most of the current research on the commensal bacteria (microbiota) of chickens has focused on broilers and gut microbiota, and less attention has been given to layers and respiratory microbiota. This research bias has left significant gaps in our knowledge of the layer microbiome. This study was conducted to define the core microbiota colonizing the upper respiratory tract (URT) and lower intestinal tract (LIT) in commercial layers under field conditions. One hundred eighty-one chickens were sampled from a flock of >80,000 birds at nine times to collect samples for 16S rRNA gene-based bacterial metabarcoding. Generally, the body site and age/farm stage had very dominant effects on the quantity, taxonomic composition, and dynamics of core bacteria. Remarkably, ileal and URT microbiota were compositionally more related to each other than to that from the cecum. Unique taxa dominated in each body site yet some taxa overlapped between URT and LIT sites, demonstrating a common core. The overlapping bacteria also contained various levels of several genera with well-recognized avian pathogens. Our findings suggest that significant interaction exists between gut and respiratory microbiota, including potential pathogens, in all stages of the farm sequence. The baseline data generated in this study can be useful for the development of effective microbiome-based interventions to enhance production performance and to prevent and control disease in commercial chicken layers.IMPORTANCE The poultry industry is faced with numerous challenges associated with infectious diseases and suboptimal performance of flocks. As microbiome research continues to grow, it is becoming clear that poultry health and production performance are partly influenced by nonpathogenic symbionts that occupy different habitats within the bird. This study has defined the baseline composition and overlaps between respiratory and gut bacteria in healthy, optimally performing chicken layers across all stages of the commercial farm sequence. Consequently, the study has set the groundwork for the development of interventions that seek to enhance production performance and to prevent and control infectious diseases through the modulation of gut and respiratory bacteria.

Dataset Information

The gut microbiota of chickens in a commercial farm treated with a Salmonella phage cocktail.

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