Farm Stage, Bird Age, and Body Site Dominantly Affect the Quantity, Taxonomic Composition, and Dynamics of Respiratory and Gut Microbiota of Commercial Layer Chickens.

ABSTRACT: The digestive and respiratory tracts of chickens are colonized by bacteria that are believed to play important roles in the overall health and performance of the birds. Most of the current research on the commensal bacteria (microbiota) of chickens has focused on broilers and gut microbiota, and less attention has been given to layers and respiratory microbiota. This research bias has left significant gaps in our knowledge of the layer microbiome. This study was conducted to define the core microbiota colonizing the upper respiratory tract (URT) and lower intestinal tract (LIT) in commercial layers under field conditions. One hundred eighty-one chickens were sampled from a flock of >80,000 birds at nine times to collect samples for 16S rRNA gene-based bacterial metabarcoding. Generally, th

SUBMITTER: Ngunjiri JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6495750 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature