Study on Microbial Diversity in the Caecal Chyle of Laying Hens

This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary metabolizable energy (ME) levels on the cecal microbiota of Wenshui Green-shell laying hens and to analyze the correlation between differential microbiota and egg quality. The dominant bacterial phyla (Bacteroidota, Firmicutes) and genera (Bacteroides, Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group, Phascolarctobacterium) were consistent with established findings. A key observation was that moderate increases in dietary energysignificantly elevated the relative abundance of Bacteroides compared to other ME groups, suggesting a potential for nutritional modulation to enhance beneficial gut bacteria. Furthermore,the abundance of Bacteroides was negatively correlated with egg and albumen weight, while that of Fusobacterium was positively correlated with egg yolk ratio.