Research Note: The gut microbiota varies with dietary fiber levels in broilers

• DOI: 10.1016/j.psj.2022.101922
• Publication Date: 2022-04-21T15:36:53Z
• Authors: Mohan Qiu; Junqing Hu; Han Peng; Bo Li; Jingliang Xu; Xiaoyan Song; Chunlin Yu; Zengrong Zhang; Xiaogang Du; Guixian Bu; Anqi Huang; Xingfa Han; Xianyin Zeng; Chaowu Yang; Fanli Kong
• Keywords: Dietary Fiber; 0301 basic medicine; 2. Zero hunger; 0303 health sciences; gut microbiota; short-chain fatty acids; MICROBIOLOGY AND FOOD SAFETY; broiler; dietary fiber; Fatty Acids, Volatile; SF1-1100; Animal culture; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; 03 medical and health sciences; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Animals; Chickens

It is generally accepted the gut microbiota have a profound effect on the nutrition, health, and production in poultry. To deeply understand the gut microbiota composition with the dietary fiber level in broilers, we evaluated the cecal microbiota profiles feeding on different dietary fiber level with alfalfa as additive in Dahen broilers based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing and gas chromatography. As a result, the gut microbiota diversity was greatly accelerated with the dietary fiber level. The dietary fiber stimulated the growth of many intestinal communities such as Rikenellaceae RC9 gut group, Faecalibacterium, Prevotellaceae UCG 001 and Ruminococcaceae UCG 014, and led to an altered microbial function such as Carbohydrate metabolism and Genetic information processing. Meanwhile, we found the genera Anaerofilum and Dielma were significantly correlated with the production of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). All these results provide a reference for the broilers gut microbiota changes with different dietary fiber level. The key role of the altered microbiota with the dietary fiber may mediate beneficial effects in broiler production, which also reflect the substantial potential of dietary fiber level in poultry.