Morphometric and Transcriptome Analysis of Probiotic Treated Heat Stress Birds

Climate change is predicted to result in longer and hotter heat waves, resulting in significant reduction in poultry yields.  Probiotics may provide a means to reduce the impact of heat on poultry production.  We have evaluated the impact of Bacillus subtilis on Broiler chicken morphometric parameters in the presence or absence of heat stress. Probiotic improved feed efficiency under both control and heat stress but did not result in improved production yields under either condition. Heat stress resulted in significant reductions in overall mass, normalized intestinal lengths, normalized breast muscle and normalized brain mass. To extend this study, we have prepared transcriptome libraries to intestinal segments from untreated and probiotic treated broilers.  Data will presented describing the results of the transcriptome analysis.  Overall the transcriptome studies should provide insight into mechanisms affected by probiotics that yield improved feed efficiency.