Early-Life Prophylactic Antibiotic Treatment Disturbed the Stability of Gut Microbiota and reduced H9N2 AIV Resistance in Chicks

Antibiotics were widely used for prophylactic therapy and to improve the growth performance for chicken. The problem of bacterial drug resistance caused by antibiotic abuse has attracted extensive attention, however, the influence of early-day use of prophylactic antibiotics to the gut microflora and affect the disease resistance ability in chicks is still rare concern. Here, we comprehensively evaluate the growth performance, gut microbiota, the level of antibiotic resistance genes in gut microbial community and resistance to H9N2 avian influenza virus (AIV) of chickens following long-term and short-term early-day prophylactic antibiotic treatment.