Abstract
Improving the digestive efficiency of broiler chickens (Gallus gallus) could reduce organic waste, increase the use of alternative feed not used for human consumption and reduce the impact of feed in production costs. By selecting chicken lines divergently for their digestive efficiency, we showed previously that digestive efficiency is under genetic control and that the two resulting divergent lines, D+ (high digestive efficiency or “digestibility +”) and D- (low digestive efficiency or “digestibility -”), also differ for the abundance of specific bacteria in their caeca. Here we perform a more extensive census of the bacteria present in the digestive microbiota of 60 chickens selected for their low apparent metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen balance (AMEn-) or high (AMEn+) digestive efficiency in a [D+ x D-] F8 progeny of 200 individuals. We sequenced the 16S rRNA genes of the ileal, jejunal and caecal microbiotas, and compared the compositions and predicted functions of microbiotas from the different intestinal segments for 20 AMEn+ and 19 AMEn- birds. The intestinal segment of origin was the main factor structuring the samples. The caecal microbiota was the most impacted by the differences in digestive efficiency, with 41 bacterial species with abundances differing between highly and poorly efficient birds. Furthermore, we predicted that the caecal microbiota of efficient birds might be enriched in genes contributing to the degradation of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) from non-starch polysaccharides. These results confirm the impact of the genetic selection led on digestibility on the caecal microbiota taxonomic composition. They open the way toward the identification of specific, causal genes of the host controlling variations in the abundances of bacterial taxons.
Highlights
Feed is one of the most important costs in broiler rearing, so that improving feed efficiency remains one of the main objectives of chicken breeders
We selected animals based on their high or low coefficient of digestive use of dry matter (CUDDM) or apparent metabolizable energy (AMEn), i.e. the criterion used for genetic selection and we studied three intestinal segments: jejunum, ileum and caeca
We confirmed that the digestive microbiota of AMEn+ and AMEn- birds selected within a [D + x D-] F8 progeny differ mainly in the caeca, with significant differences in the abundance of several OTUs, some of which might contribute to the degradation of non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs) and the production of short chain fatty acids (SCFA)
Summary
Feed is one of the most important costs in broiler rearing, so that improving feed efficiency remains one of the main objectives of chicken breeders. The intense selection conducted during the last decades has led to a huge genetic progress when considering feed conversion and growth rate. This progress was obtained by feeding animals with optimal, easy-to-digest diets mainly composed of feedstuffs used for human consumption. Selecting animals able to digest alternative sources of feed, which are more difficult to digest but not edible to human. Digestive microbiota of broilers with contrasted digestibilities fellowship funded by Credit Agricole d’Ile de France Mecenat. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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