Hen-to-chick microbiota transfer. chicken gut metagenome

Chickens in commercial production are hatched in a clean hatchery environment in the absence of any contact with adult hens, which would act as a source of optimal microbiota. On the other hand, Gallus gallus evolved to be hatched in a nest in a contact with adult hen which should act as a donor of gut microbiota. In this study we therefore addressed the issue of microbiota development in newly hatched chickens with or without a contact with adult hen. We found out that a mere 24-hour-long contact between a hen and newly hatched chickens was long enough for nearly complete transfer of hen gut microbiota to chickens. Hens were efficient donors of Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria, Chickens could be efficiently colonised also by Akkermansia (phylum Verrucomicrobia). However, except for genus Faecalibacterium and bacterial species belonging to class Negativicutes, hens did not act as an important source of Gram positive Firmicutes. Though common to chicken intestinal tract, hens therefore did not act as an important source of Lactobacilli or isolates from families Erysipeltrichaceae, Lachnospiracaea and Ruminococcaceae and these originated from environment sources. These conclusions should be considered when designing next generation of probiotics to be used in poultry or when performing faecal microbiota transplantations