Intestinal development in two divergent chicken lines (X and Y)

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of genotypic variation on both early microbial colonization of the gut and functional development of intestinal tissue. From two genetically diverse chicken lines intestinal content samples were taken for microbiota analyzes and intestinal tissue samples were extracted for gene expression analyzes, both at three subsequent time-points (days 0, 4, and 16). 1-day-old chicks (Lines X and Y) were housed in a floor pen system in which the chicks had ad libitum access to feed and water. At days 0, 4 and 16, 80 birds of each line X and line Y were sacrificed for tissue sampling, in total 240 birds per line. Subsequently, samples from these 80 birds were pooled in 8 pools of ten birds.