Identification of Gut Microbiota that Are Associated with Necrotics Enteritis Resistance in Chickens

Necrotic Enteritis (NE) is an economically significant enteritic disease in poultry which causes more than 6 billion dollars of loss every year globally. NE is caused by Clostridium perfringens and could lead to intestinal lesions, impaired growth, and in severe cases, the death. So, NE control and prevention are significant for poultry production. In this project I:

• Screened multiple chicken gut commensal bacteria for their ability to against Clostridium Perfringens (CP) using co-culture assay in vitro. I found Megasphaera statonii, which is a short-chain fatty acid producer, can significantly reduce the growth of CP.

• Conducted multiple bacterial transplantation animal trials and data analysis to investigate the in vivo effect of Megasphaera statonii in against of NE and the results showed that low dose of Megasphaera statonii inoculation on ealry age bird could provide significant projection from NE.