Indigestible carbohydrates alter the intestinal microbiota but do not influence the performance of broiler chickens

• Published in: Journal of applied microbiology 2009-05, Vol.106 (5), p.1540-1548
• Main Authors: Geier, M.S, Torok, V.A, Allison, G.E, Ophel-Keller, K, Hughes, R.J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal Feed - analysis; Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Animals; antimicrobial; Biological and medical sciences; chicken; chickens; Chickens - growth & development; Chickens - metabolism; denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis; Diet - veterinary; Dietary Carbohydrates - metabolism; Digestion - physiology; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field - veterinary; Energy Metabolism; Fructans - chemistry; Fructans - metabolism; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; gut microbial profiling; Intestines - microbiology; Lactobacillus; Lactobacillus johnsonii; Male; Mannans - chemistry; Mannans - metabolism; Microbiology; Polymerase Chain Reaction - veterinary; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; prebiotics; terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism
• ISSN: 1364-5072; 1365-2672
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2672.2008.04116.x

Prebiotics are a potential alternative to in-feed antimicrobials to improve performance of chickens. We investigated the effects of mannanoligosaccharide (MOS) and fructooligosaccharide (FOS) on growth, performance and the intestinal microbiota. Cobb 500 birds were fed either: Control, starter diet without antimicrobials; ZnB, Control + 50 ppm zinc bacitracin; MOS, Control + 5 g kg⁻¹ MOS; or FOS, Control + 5 g kg⁻¹ FOS. An energy metabolism study was conducted and intestinal microbial communities assessed by T-RFLP and Lac PCR-DGGE. Diet did not influence performance. Ileal microbial communities were significantly different in ZnB-fed birds compared to all diets, and FOS-fed chickens compared to Control. MOS-fed chickens had a different caecal profile to ZnB and FOS-fed birds. Consensus Lac PCR-DGGE profiles indicated Lactobacillus communities clustered according to diet with Lactobacillus johnsonii characteristic of ZnB diet. Control and MOS-fed chickens displayed significantly different jejunal Lactobacillus profiles to each other whilst ileal profiles were different between MOS and FOS-fed birds. Prebiotics influenced the intestinal microbiota, but did not affect performance. In light of pressure for in-feed antimicrobial withdrawal, the impact of alternative compounds on the intestinal microbiota and bird performance is critical to the poultry industry.