Bajagai, Yadav Sharma, Yeoh, Yun Kit, Li, Xiuhua, Zhang, Dagong, Dennis, Paul G., Ouwerkerk, Diane, Dart, Peter J., Klieve, Athol V., and Bryden, Wayne L. (2023) Enhanced meat chicken productivity in response to the probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens H57 is associated with the enrichment of microbial amino acid and vitamin biosynthesis pathways. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 134 (5).

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Abstract

Aims: Sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics as a growth promoter in animal diets has either been banned or voluntarily withdrawn from use in many countries to help curb the emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Probiotics may be an alternative to antibiotics as a growth promoter. We investigated the effects of a novel probiotic strain, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens H57 (H57) on the performance and microbiome-associated metabolic potential.

Methods and Results: Broiler chickens were fed either sorghum- or wheat-based diets supplemented with the probiotic H57. The growth rate, feed intake, and feed conversion in supplemented birds were compared with those in non-supplemented control. Caecal microbial metabolic functions were studied with shotgun metagenomic sequencing. H57 supplementation significantly increased the growth rate and daily feed intake of meat chickens relative to the non-supplemented controls without any effect on feed conversion ratio. In addition, relative to the non-supplemented controls, gene-centric metagenomics revealed that H57 significantly altered the functional capacity of the caecal microbiome, with amino acid and vitamin synthesis pathways being positively associated with H57 supplementation.

Conclusions: Bacillus amyloliquefaciens H57 improves the performance of meat chickens or broilers and significantly modifies the functional potential of their caecal microbiomes, with enhanced potential capacity for amino acid and vitamin biosynthesis.

Item ID:	91187
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1365-2672
Copyright Information:	© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Applied Microbiology International. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
Funders:	Australian Research Council (ARC)
Projects and Grants:	ARC LP120200837
Date Deposited:	01 May 2026 00:48
FoR Codes:	30 AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES > 3003 Animal production > 300303 Animal nutrition @ 40% 30 AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES > 3099 Other agricultural, veterinary and food sciences > 309999 Other agricultural, veterinary and food sciences not elsewhere classified @ 60%
SEO Codes:	10 ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND ANIMAL PRIMARY PRODUCTS > 1004 Livestock raising > 100411 Poultry @ 100%
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