Role of diet-microbiota interactions in precision nutrition of the chicken: facts, gaps, and new concepts

Authors: Kogut, Michael - Mike

Submitted to: Poultry Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/6/2022
Publication Date: 3/1/2022
Citation: Kogut, M.H. 2022. Role of diet-microbiota interactions in precision nutrition of the chicken: facts, gaps, and new concepts. Poultry Science. 101(3). Article 101673. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2021.101673.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2021.101673

Interpretive Summary: The development of the immune response in chicks is controlled by the millions of bacteria in the animal's gut. What has been found over the last 20 years is that bacteria which do not cause disease, but normally grow in the gut, can work together to make the animals' immune system work better and prevent the harmful germs from growing. This review paper shows that the food that chicks eat can alter the growth of specific bacteria in the gut. These bacteria are then able to control the chick's local immune environment in the gut. Thus, changing the nutrients in the diet of the chick can be a natural (non-drug) way to increase the efficiency of the chick's immune system so that it may be able to better fight off disease causing germs, such as Salmonella. This research is beneficial to chicken growers, microbiologists, and nutritionists, and will help make better animal feeds that encourage the growth of the normal bacteria in the gut and help in development of a healthy immune system.

Technical Abstract: In the intestine, host-derived factors are genetically hardwired and difficult to modulate. However, the intestinal microbiome is more plastic and can be readily modulated by dietary exposure. It is becoming more apparent that the microbiome can potentially impact poultry physiology by participating in digestion, the absorption of nutrients, shaping of the mucosal immune response, energy homeostasis, and the synthesis or modulation of several potential bioactive metabolites. These activities are dependent on the quantity and quality of the microbiota alongside its metabolic potential, which are dictated in large part by diet. Thus, diet-induced microbiota alterations may be harnessed to induce changes in host physiology, including disease development and progression. In this regard, the gut microbiome is malleable and renders the gut microbiome a candidate 'organ' for the possibility of precision nutrition to induce precision microbiomics-the use of the gut microbiome as a biomarker to predict responsiveness to specific dietary constituents to generate precision diets and interventions for optimal poultry performance and health. However, it is vital to identify the causal relationships and mechanisms by which dietary components and additives affect the gut microbiome which then ultimately influence avian physiology. Further, an improved understanding of the spatial and functional relationships between the different sections of the avian gut and their regional microbiota will provide a better understanding of the role of the diet in regulating the intestinal microbiome.