Analysis of gut microbiota of broiler chickens via 16S rRNA sequencing

Several results are published on the microbiota composition of the different intestinal parts of broiler chickens, however only few research focused of the gut mucus layer. Furthermore, the variation in body weight and feed utilization among individual animals is rather high. The reason for this is still unclear, but intestinal microbiota composition could be a potential factor. Therefore in this project, besides to evaluate the taxonomic composition and metabolic functions of gut luminal and mucosa-associated microbiota in broiler chicken, comparison was also carried out to compare the microbiota composition of birds with different growing intensity.