C (Caifang) Wen MSc

Project  The potential of prebiotic effect on microbiota colonization, gut function and animal performance 

Project September 2016 - September 2020

Introduction

In the past decade, interest in the human and animal gut microbiome has increased considerably as gut microbiota and its metabolic products play a pivotal role in protecting the host. In the veterinary field, efforts are made to reduce antibiotic use in swine production, thus increasing diet complexity is, without doubt, a sustainable option to increase microbial diversity and the abundance of beneficial microbes to help reduce the incidence diarrhea and decrease sub-therapeutic antibiotic use. To this end, there is growing interest in the use of prebiotics as alternatives to antibiotic use for animal feeding. In recent years, different new prebiotics have been placed on the market. New prebiotics will be studied with respect to their effect on animal performance.

Aim

This project aims to investigate the potential of new prebiotics on microbiota colonization, gut function and animal performance.

Approach

The objective of this project is to study the effects of prebiotic feed material on gut composition and function in broilers and pigs.

The physico-chemical properties of the prebiotics will be characterized. In vitro fermentation, in vitro cell based assays and in vitro adhesion assays will be used to assess potential prebiotic and colonization resistance-enhancing effects. Furthermore, broilers and pigs will be used to investigate the effects of a diet intervention with this prebiotics on gut microbiota composition and functioning using 16S rRNA profiling, metatranscriptomics and metabolome analysis