Changes in broiler gastrointestinal bacterial community: response to different experimental diets

Animal welfare is a public concern and all conditions must be provided in order to supply all animal needs. One of the most important needs is an appropriate diet, being this the reason why nutritionists develop adequate diets for broilers. Every change in the diet has an implication on the gut microbial community, which would affect the health status and growth rate. High-throughput techniques have shown to be useful for the identification of phylogenetic and functional composition of communities in diverse microbial ecosystems. On this project, high throughput sequencing will allow us to detect which are the microorganisms involved, and the metabolic mechanisms used to carry out feed digestion. It is important to gain a deep understanding of the microbial community and its interaction with the host, particularly in the gut where it occurs the breakdown of proteins and nutrient absorption. This is a collaborative project with the Animal Nutrition group.