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Context and challenges

Poultry meat is the most consumed meat in the world and the second most consumed meat in France. In addition, the health, animal welfare and productivity of broilers, as well as the microbial safety of meat cuts and the demand for healthy food are important societal issues. These issues are driving changes in poultry farming practices, which raises the question of the influence of these farming practices.

Microbial communities in broilers, mainly those in the digestive tract, have been widely described, as well as their influence on nutrition, physiology and immunity of chickens. However, these studies have only covered part of the production chain.

Goals

Our objective is to evaluate the impact of chicken rearing parameters on bacterial flux throughout the broiler production chain. In this exploratory project, we will analyse the composition of the microbiota from the egg shell to the carcass and study the impact of rearing conditions (indoor or outdoor access) on chick colonisation, on the dynamics and formation of the microbiota during rearing and on the composition of the bacterial contamination of the carcass. These data will be compared with zootechnical parameters in order to detect potential levers for improving the health and robustness of the animals by engineering the microbiota.

INRAE partners

Non INRAE partners