Effect of faecal microbiota transplantation on growth, haematological and intestinal indices of Kedu chickens

Abstract

The study examined the effect of lyophilized fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from healthy chicken donors on growth performance, haematological indices and intestinal morphology of Kedu chickens during the starter phase. A number of 120 Kedu chickens (0-6 weeks old) were randomly as-signed to T0 (orally inoculated with 1 mL PBS), T1 (inoculated with 0.5 mL FMT) and T2 (1.0 mL FMT). Body weight and feed intake were weekly recorded, while blood and intestinal segments were collected at week 6. Results showed that live body weight and body weight gain were highest (p<0.001) in T1, and the lowest in T0 group. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was better (p=0.001) in T1 and T2 compared to T0 group. Feed intake was lower (p=0.014) in T2 than in T0 and T1 groups. The FMT administration tended to increase erythrocytes (p=0.054) and haemoglobin levels (p=0.056) of Kedu chickens. The relative weight of duodenum, jejunum, ileum, caecum and colon were lower (p<0.05) in T1 and T2 compared to those in T0 group. The FMT administration had no effect (p>0.05) on duodenal and jejunal villi height, crypt depth and the ratio of villi height to crypt depth of Kedu chickens. In conclusion, daily low-dose lyophilized FMT was associated with improved growth perfor-mance and feed efficiency in starter Kedu chickens, while haematological and intestinal morphological responses were limited.