Abstract
The objective of the study is to compare the effects of free-range (FR) and cage-range (CR) breeding on gut microbiota and flavor compounds of Caoke (C) and Partridge Shank chickens (Q). A total of 120 experimental chickens were assigned to FR group and CR group; each group contain both 30 Caoke chickens and 30 Partridge Shank chickens. At 154 d old, 12 chickens of each group were selected and their cecal contents were extracted and examined for the composition of gut microbiota by illumina sequencing of the V3 region of the 16S rDNA genes, and flavor compounds were analyzed through headspace-solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) method. The results showed that, except for acids, the amount of flavor substances in the FR group was higher than those in the CR group, especially the content of Hexanal and D-limonene. Meanwhile, the higher concentrations of carbonyls including (E,E)-2,4-decadienal, (E)-2-decenal, (E)-2-octenal, and pentanal were in the FR chicken meat, but the differences in concentrations compared with CR were not significant. High levels of ethyl hexanoate and β-ocimene were only detected in FR groups. The Firmicutes had the highest proportion of chicken cecal microbiota, whereas the Fusobacteria was only detected in the cecal samples of Q chicken in FR group. Actinobacteria was more prevalent in FR groups than in CR groups. Meanwhile, in Q chickens, the proportions of Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria in FR group were higher than those in CR group. Using MG-RAST Subsystem Technology, we found that some genes were associated with the formation of precursors of flavor compounds or with the metabolism and degradation of aromatic compounds. Overall, CR and FR breeding influenced the gut microbiota and flavor compounds, potentially because of the changes in diet and living conditions.
Highlights
Poultry meat is important in the daily life of people by providing abundant protein, fat, and trace elements
Almasi et al and Krwaczyk et al found that free-range rearing has negative on-slaughter weight but has positive effects on meat quality and egg quality [3, 4], while it has no effect on carcass traits and meat quality in chickens
Our results indicated that the meat flavor and composition and diversity of gut microbiota of chicken were associated with the different housing systems
Summary
Poultry meat is important in the daily life of people by providing abundant protein, fat, and trace elements. As the standard of living develops, more and more people are interested in free-range and organic meat poultry, because the meat of the outdoor chickens had more protein and n3 polyunsaturated fatty acid than the indoors chickens [1, 2]. Almasi et al and Krwaczyk et al found that free-range rearing has negative on-slaughter weight but has positive effects on meat quality and egg quality [3, 4], while it has no effect on carcass traits and meat quality in chickens. The number of studies has rapidly increased finding that gut microbiota in mammals play important roles in digestion of food, synthesis of vitamins and amino acids [6], development of organs [7, 8], regulation of host physiology [9], immune system modulation, and growth and neurodevelopment [10, 11]. We revealed that probiotics treatment had significant effects on the microbial community in the caecum of chicken and improved chicken meat flavor [15]
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