Effect of probiotics on the meat flavour and gut microbiota of chicken

Yan Wang,Qing Zhu,Hang Zhong,Hengyong Xu,Jing Sun,Yiping Liu,Nianzhen Li

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-06677-z

Abstract

To date, no report has demonstrated the use of beneficial microbes for contributing to the flavour characteristics and gut microbiota diversity of chicken. Here, we selected six probiotics obtained from our laboratory and supplemented them in six different combinations to 420 newborn male Qingjiaoma chickens under the same controlled living environment (60 birds, no probiotic supplements). The results showed that chicken supplemented with Bacillus species showed beneficial effects in body weight. Acetate is the major fermentation production in the chicken caecum, and chicken supplemented with Pediococcus pentosaceus had the average higher short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) contents. In chicken caecal microflora, the abundance of Bacteroidetes bacteria was positively correlated with the content of propionate, butyrate, and isobutyrate, whereas an increase in acetate content was positively correlated to the abundance of Firmicutes. Compared to chickens without probiotic supplement, chickens supplemented with P. pentosaceus had more characteristic flavour compounds in the sampled breast meat, especially higher concentrations of (E)-2-heptenal, (E,E)-2,4-nonadienal, and certain C6-C9 unsaturated fatty acids. This resulted in a stronger chicken-fatty or fatty odour which directly improved the flavour. These findings suggest that probiotics can improve chicken meat flavour and increase gut microbiota diversity.

Highlights

It is generally known that the diverse gut microbiota play an important role in host metabolism, nutrient digestion, growth performance and health of the host[1,2,3,4]
The results showed that the probiotics had a growth promoting effect on the average body weight of chickens (Table 1 and Supplementary Fig. S1)
We found that the feed conversion ratio (FCR) of Group 1 (2.29) was reduced compared to the control group, followed by Groups 3 and 5 (FCR = 2.36 and FCR = 2.37, respectively), but there were no significant differences (P > 0.05) (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

It is generally known that the diverse gut microbiota play an important role in host metabolism, nutrient digestion, growth performance and health of the host[1,2,3,4]. Probiotic application has been reported in the poultry industry with an emphasis on their influence on the growth performance of chickens and their carcass compositions[12, 13]. In this context, recent studies reveal that probiotics supplements in chicken improve pH, colour, water-holding capacity, fatty acid profile and oxidative stability in fresh meat[14, 15]. We hypothesized that probiotics isolated from the intestines of free-range chickens can improve meat flavour and promote animal health by modulating gut microbiota. The specific research aims were (1) to characterize the flavour compounds of chicken in different probiotic groups; (2) to characterize the influence of different probiotic supplements on enzyme activities in the digestive tract and bacterial fermentation in chicken caeca; (3) to characterize and compare the bacterial diversity of chicken caecal microbiota in different probiotic supplements groups; (4) to clarify the association among gut microbiota, caecal fermentation products and digestive enzyme activities and (5) to explore whether these correlations will influence meat quality, flavour compounds and gut microbiota composition of chickens

Methods

Results

Conclusion