Effects of dietary fiber levels on cecal microbiota composition in geese

• Main Authors: Yanpin Li, Haiming Yang, Lei Xu, Zhiyue Wang, Yue Zhao, Xiaoshuai Chen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies 2018-08-01
• Series: Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• Subjects: Fiber; Goose; Cecum; Microbiota
• Online Access: http://www.ajas.info/upload/pdf/ajas-31-8-1285.pdf
• ISSN: 1011-2367; 1976-5517

Objective This study shows the effects of dietary fiber levels on cecal microbiota composition in geese at day 70 according to pyrosequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene. Methods A total of 468 1-day-old healthy male Yangzhou goslings with similar body weight were randomly divided into 3 groups with 6 replicates per group and 26 geese per replicate. Geese were fed diets with fiber levels of 2.5% (low fiber level diet, Group I) and 6.1% (Group III) during days 1–70, respectively, or 4.3% for days 1–28 and 6.1% for days 29–70 (Group II). Results Low fiber level diet decreased body weight, average daily gain during, increased lower feed conversation rate of geese during day 1 to 70 (p<0.05). Low fiber level diet decreased the total operational taxonomic units, Chao1 index and Shannon index, whereas increased the Simpson index of cecal microbiota in geese at day 70. Low fiber level diet decreased the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Bacteroides, and Paraprevotella in cecum of geese at day 70. The similarity of cecal microbiota between low fiber level diet group and other groups was smaller. Conclusion This study indicates that the low fiber level diet decreased diversity of microbiota, and relative abundance of some beneficial microbiota in cecum of geese at day 70, implying that the low fiber level diet has negative influence on performance by altering the diversity and population of cecal microbiota in geese.