An Evaluation of Differences in Cloacal Microbiome in Broilers Administered BioSupreme® or GutPro® via the Drinking Water
The purpose of this study was to assess BioSupreme and GutPro products for their ability to enhance broiler performance and modulate the broiler gut and respiratory microbiota. Biosupreme® is a saponin-containing product, and GutPro® is a probiotic containing both Lactobacillus and Bacillus spp.
A sixteen-pen study was performed with a total of 160 mixed sex broilers randomly divided into groups of 10 birds. Treatments and controls are outlined below:
Group | Water Treatment |
Control | Control-no additives |
BioSupreme |
Biosupreme 8 az/gallon of stock |
GutPro |
GutPro 50 gm/gallon of stock |
BioSupreme+GutPro | BioSupreme (8oz/gallon of stock) + Gut Pro (50 gm/gallon of stock) |
Individual birds were weighed on days 0, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 43 of age. At each timepoint, two birds per pen were randomly selected, euthanized, and their ileum, cecal pouches, and trachea were collected. Samples were processed at the University of Minnesota to extract total DNA and subsequently perform 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to profile the bacterial populations across age, treatment, and tissue. These data were also used to explore correlations between weight and microbiota.
Biosupreme and GutPro enhanced final body weights. At day 43 of age, the BioSupreme and GutPro groups had bird weights significantly higher (P<0.05) than control and BioSupreme + GutPro groups.
Bacterial communities in the bird differ by site. As expected, individual bird samples clustered by tissue of isolation. Ileum and trachea samples clustered closer to one another than did cecum samples. The closeness of each symbol in the below figure represents how similar bacterial communities are between samples.
BioSupreme and GutPro exert differential effects on bacterial communities in the gut and respiratory tract. We measured bacteria of interest to determine if either product type modulates potential pathogens or “healthy” bacteria in the gut. We also measured the richness of the bacterial community as an indicator of gut health. Some interesting trends
emerged:
• BioSupreme tended to increase bacterial diversity in both the cecum (left) and ileum (right). This was previously observed in a turkey pen trial using the same products
• GutPro and BioSupreme+GutPro significantly increased bacterial diversity in the trachea, suggesting that GutPro may have a positive impact on the respiratory microbiota
• GutPro tended to increase the relative abundance of Lactobacillus and Bacillus in the ileum, which are positive indicators of gut health
• At some timepoints, GutPro and/or BioSupreme tended to decrease the relative abundance of Enterococcus, E. coli, and Clostridium in the gut. However, this was not observed at all timepoints and tended to occur
only at earlier bird ages
• Lactobacillus was increased in the trachea with BioSupreme+GutPro, indicating that it is having a positive impact on respiratory health
Conclusions. BioSupreme and GutPro were able to enhance final body weights of birds in a broiler pen trial. This correlated with some positive shifts in overall microbial gut health in the gut and, surprisingly, in the respiratory tract. This suggests that use of these products may have a beneficial impact on broiler health and performance.
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Author:
Timothy Johnson, PhD
Professor of Microbiology, Poultry Extension
Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, University of Minnesota