Correlations between variable broiler performance and gene expression and microflora in the gut

Abstract

Within any flock of growing broilers there is variation in bird performance, whether measured by weight gain, feed conversion, or efficiency in the extraction of metabolisable energy from feed. From the poultry producers point of view, it is desirable to minimise such variation. Efforts to reduce variation can be purely empirically based or can be investigated by studying the underlying causes of variability, in the expectation that they can then be monitored or manipulated. Recent technological advances offer new and more detailed ways to investigate some of the possible influences on growth performance and efficiency of energy usage. We have used next generation DNA sequencing of microflora 16S rRNA genes to comprehensively characterise the structure of the bacterial populations in the gut and demonstrate that the presence or absence of certain bacteria is correlated with bird performance. Similarly, we have also applied high density microarray analysis to investigate gene expression in gut tissue and draw correlations between the expression of certain genes and bird performance.