Poultry microbiome

The poultry microbiome is an understudied, yet extremely impactful part of the poultry industry. Poultry is defined as any avian species used for production purposes such as food or down feathers. The United States consumes more poultry, specifically broiler meat, than any other type of protein. Worldwide, poultry makes up 33% of consumed meat. This makes poultry extremely valuable and the impact of the poultry microbiome on health and production even more valuable. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was the first to notice microbes inside animals through stool samples giving light to further research into the gut microbiome. His discovery lead to the ever evolving study of the microbiota and microbiome. The microbiota is the entirety of living organisms including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and archaea in an environment. The microbiome is the combination of the microbiota and the additional activities in that system including metabolites and chemicals in a habitat. Much of the work done to characterize the poultry microbiome has been accomplished over the past decade and was done through the use of 16s rRNA sequencing.

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