Hen raising helps chicks establish gut microbiota in their early life and improve microbiota stability after H9N2 challenge.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Early gut microbial colonization is important for postnatal growth and immune development of the chicken. However, at present, commercial chickens are hatched and raised without adult hens, thus are cut off from the microbiota transfer between hens and chicks. In this study, we compared the gut microbiota composition between hen-reared and separately reared chicks, and its impact on the resistance to H9N2 avian influenza virus, with the motive of investigating the impact of this cutoff in microbiota transfer.

Results

We used the 16SrRNA sequencing method to assess the composition of the gut microbiota in chicks represented by three hen-reared groups and one separately reared group. We found that the diversity of gut microbes in the chicks from the three hen-reared

SUBMITTER: Li X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8785444 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature