Abstract
This study compared the effects of wheat- and sorghum-based diets on broiler chickens. The growth performance and caecal microbial community of chickens were measured and correlations between productivity and specific gut microbes were observed. Cobb broilers 15 days of age were individually caged and two dietary treatments were used, one with a wheat-based diet (n = 48) and another one with a sorghum-based diet (n = 48). Growth performance measurements were taken over a 10 day period and samples for microbiota analysis were taken at the end of that period. Caecal microbiota was characterised by sequencing of 16S bacterial rRNA gene amplicons. Overall, the results indicated that a sorghum-based diet produced higher apparent metabolisable energy (AME) and body-weight gain (BWG) values in chickens, compared to a wheat-based diet. Nevertheless, sorghum-fed birds had higher feed conversion ratio (FCR) values than wheat-fed birds, possibly because of some anti-nutritional factors in sorghum. Further analyses showed that caecal microbial community was significantly associated with AME values, but microbiota composition differed between dietary treatments. A number of bacteria were individually correlated with growth performance measurements. Numerous OTUs assigned to strains of Lactobacillus crispatus and Lachnospiraceae, which were prevalent in sorghum-fed chickens, were correlated with high AME and BWG values, respectively. Additionally, a number of OTUs assigned to Clostridiales that were prevalent in wheat-fed chickens were correlated with low FCR values. Overall, these results suggest that between-diet variations in growth performance were partly associated with changes in the caecal microbiota.
Highlights
Wheat, maize and sorghum are the three most commonly used grains in the poultry industry worldwide (Liu et al, 2014)
Chickens fed with sorghum had significantly higher feed conversion ratio (FCR) values (1.50 ± 0.01 [average ± standard error]) than those fed with wheat (1.47 ± 0.01) (P = 0.004) (Fig. 1A)
apparent metabolisable energy (AME) values were significantly higher in sorghum-fed chickens (14.71 ± 0.04) than in wheat-fed birds (14.44 ± 0.06) (P = 0.002) (Fig. 1B)
Summary
Maize and sorghum are the three most commonly used grains in the poultry industry worldwide (Liu et al, 2014). These cereal grains usually constitute a major proportion (60– 70%) of the diet fed to broilers (Black et al, 2005). Wheat is perceived as having a high feeding value for poultry, yet, in reality, some studies have indicated that there are extreme variations in the apparent metabolisable energy (AME) values of wheat-based diets in chickens (Choct, Hughes & Annison (1999) and references within). The other major cereal, presents a number of economic advantages over wheat, since it can be grown under drier conditions, and is usually less costly (Liu, Selle & Cowieson, 2013). In comparison to wheat, sorghum is thought to have a more consistent, higher energy density (Selle et al, 2010)
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