Abstract
Background Intensifying food production systems underscore the need for poultry gut-health strategies aligned with One Health goals. Central to this is a balanced gut microbiota, vital for nutrient absorption, immunity, and disease resilience. Results We applied integrative multi-omics, combining untargeted LC-MS metabolomics and shotgun metagenomics, to characterise caecal responses of commercial broilers to two widely used gut health interventions: ionophore supplementation (T1) and Eimeria vaccination (T2). Across 7,554 detected metabolites, interventions produced distinct metabolic ecologies. T1 was marked by prenol lipids, including multiple soyasaponins, and enrichment of cellular stress related pathways (e.g. glutathione pathway). T2 instead shifted aromatic amino acid metabolism, elevating tryptophan-derived indoles such as 5-methoxyindole. Integration with metagenomic profiles revealed complete discrimination between treatments and identified 405 metabolite-MAG correlations.
References
Funding
Funders who supported this work.
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (1)
Grant ID: BB/T008709/1
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