Changes in reproductive tract community composition as a result of growth targeted breeding of broilers

In this study, we compared the composition of the reproductive tract microbiota of the modern Cobb commercial breeder line and a Legacy line which has not undergone selection for 35 years. By growing dams of the two lines under the same management protocol and in the same hen house for 37 weeks, we removed confounders and were able to identify differences in the reproductive tract bacterial community that were the result of genetic differences between the two breeds. Thus, genetics affect the composition of the reproductive tract microbiome.