Supplementation of precision biotic leads to improved growth performance by modulating the microbiome of broiler chickens fed corn or wheat-based diets

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The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of a precision biotic (PB; Symphiome®, dsm-firmenich) on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, litter quality, blood uric acid (UA) concentration, cecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) concentration, and ileal and cecal microbiome of broiler chickens fed corn or wheat-based diets. One-day-old broiler chicks were placed in a completely randomized design (2 × 2 factorial scheme) in 4 treatments, 8 replicates/treatment, and 16 birds/replicate. The treatments were a corn or wheat and soybean meal-based diet without or with supplementation of 0.9 kg/MT of PB. All the birds were vaccinated against coccidiosis at the time of placement (Paracox 5). Growth performance was evaluated weekly and at the end of the experiment. At d 35, blood was collected to determine UA concentration and cecal content for SCFA concentration analysis. Ileal digesta was also collected for nutrient digestibility analysis, and ileal digesta and cecal content were collected for microbiome analysis. The data were submitted to two-way ANOVA (P ≤ 0.05), and LSM was used to separate the means in case of interaction. During the starter and grower phases of the study, a better body weight gain (P = 0.0008 and P = 0.04, respectively) was observed in birds fed wheat compared to corn-based diets. From 28 to 36 d of age, the supplementation of PB increased feed intake (P = 0.05), and tended (P = 0.06) to improve the feed conversion ratio by 4.3 points vs non-supplementated birds. Birds fed wheat-based diets had higher (P = 0.02) blood UA than corn based-diets fed birds, and the supplementation of PB led to a reduction (P = 0.02) of blood UA compared to non-supplemented birds. The supplementation of PB changed the abundance of core metabolic pathways of the microbiome, mostly related to protein metabolism, which led to a reduction in blood UA concentration and increase of cecal SCFA concentrations. In conclusion, by beneficially modulating the microbiome, the supplementation of PB was translated into improved growth performance of broiler chickens fed corn or wheat-based diets.