metagenome of laying hens intestinal tract

Soybean meal and corn are the main ingredients in commercial poultry diets that provide crude protein and energy. The demand for protein-based feed resources is also increasing, and because of the sharp increase in dietary energy prices over the past year, the importance of producers using low protein diets with the desired energy to reduce costs is increasing. First, PeKing Pink laying hens were fed different energy levels with the same low protein diet content. Next, we performed a metagenomic gene sequencing analysis of the gut microbiomes of the three groups of laying hens. Finally, we evaluated the differences in the gut microbiome composition among these three groups to understand the optimal dietary energy density for laying hens.

豆粕与玉米是商品家禽日粮的主要原料，可为家禽提供粗蛋白质（crude protein）与能量。当前蛋白类饲料资源的需求持续攀升，且过去一年间日粮用能源价格大幅上涨，养殖从业者采用契合目标能量水平的低蛋白日粮以降低养殖成本的必要性日益凸显。本研究首先选取京粉蛋鸡（Peking Pink laying hens），为其饲喂相同低蛋白水平、不同能量梯度的日粮；随后对三组蛋鸡的肠道微生物组（gut microbiomes）开展宏基因组基因测序（metagenomic gene sequencing）分析；最后通过对比三组蛋鸡的肠道微生物组组成差异，探究适配蛋鸡养殖的最优日粮能量密度。