Abstract
Heat stress (HS) can affect growth performance through alterations in specific gut microbiota, which greatly threatens poultry production. How HS affects the mechanisms of microbial changes in the poultry cecum and the complex interactions between cecal microbial changes and growth performance have not yet been well evaluated. This study was conducted to examine the changes in growth performance and cecal microbiotal community in cyclic heat stress (CHS)–treated broilers. A total of 200 twenty-eight-day-old female Arbor Acres (AA) broilers were equally allotted into neutral ambient temperature group (TN group, 24 ± 1°C, 24 h/day) and CHS group (33 ± 1°C, 8 h/day) with five replicates of 10 broilers each, respectively. Growth performance, cecum microbial diversity, flora composition, and community structure were analyzed on days 35 and 42. The decreased average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG), and the increased feed/gain ratio (F:G) were observed in heat-stressed broilers on days 35 and 42. The alpha and beta diversity index had no significant changes at the two experimental periods (P > 0.05). At the genus level, CHS significantly increased the relative abundance of Enterococcus at 42 days (P < 0.05). Based on the analysis of linear effect size feature selection, CHS made an enriched Reyranella and a reduced Romboutsia and Ruminiclostridium at 35 days of age (P < 0.05). CHS made an enriched Weissella and Enterococcus at 42 days of age (P < 0.05). The present study revealed that CHS reduces broiler growth performance and alters the microbial community of the cecum microbiota and the abundance of species. These findings are of critical importance to alleviate the negative effects of CHS on broiler chickens’ growth performance by maintaining gut microbial balance.
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The data for this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Funding
This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31702306), the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (No.1908085QC145), and the Foundation for Distinguished Young Talents in Higher Education of Anhui Province (No. gxyq2020038).
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All authors conceived and designed research. J.Y., S.H., Y.L., S.S., and J.W. conducted experiments. J.Y., S.H., and S.S. prepared materials and collected and analyzed data. J.Y. wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.
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The ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Anhui Science and Technology University, China (Approval No. 2022002).
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Yuan, J., Li, Y., Sun, S. et al. Response of growth performance and cecum microbial community to cyclic heat stress in broilers. Trop Anim Health Prod 56, 9 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-023-03849-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-023-03849-0