This study was conducted to determine the effects of diet supplementation of laying hens with antimicrobial peptides (AMP) on egg production, egg quality and caecal microbiota. A total of 360 Hy‐Line Brown laying hens (72 weeks old) were divided into three groups with four replicates of 30 birds each. The laying hens were fed with the basal diet (Control), the basal diet + 50 mg/kg AMP (group 1) and the basal diet + 100 mg/kg AMP (group 2). The experiment lasted for 45 d. Eggs were collected daily and caecal samples were collected at the end of the experiment. The results showed that AMP supplementation caused a significantly increased laying rate and decreased feed/egg ratio (p ＜ .05). Meanwhile, a distinctive difference in cecal microbiota was observed between AMP and control groups and the average values of microbial diversity and richness were lower in the AMP group than in the control group. At the phylum level, the relative abundance of Verrucomicrobia and Cyanobacteria were lower in the AMP group than in the control group. In conclusion, the results indicated that dietary supplementation with AMP can improve egg production and affect the cecal microbial community membership and structure of hens during late laying period.

中文翻译：

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抗菌肽对产蛋后期母鸡产蛋量、蛋品质和盲肠微生物群的影响

本研究旨在确定在日粮中添加抗菌肽 (AMP) 的蛋鸡对产蛋量、蛋品质和盲肠微生物群的影响。将总共​​ 360 只 Hy-Line Brown 蛋鸡（72 周龄）分成三组，每组 30 只鸡，每组重复四次。蛋鸡饲喂基础日粮（对照）、基础日粮 + 50 mg/kg AMP（第 1 组）和基础日粮 + 100 mg/kg AMP（第 2 组）。实验持续 45 d。每天收集鸡蛋，并在实验结束时收集盲肠样本。结果表明，添加 AMP 可显着提高产蛋率并降低饲料/蛋比（p＜ .05)。同时，在 AMP 组和对照组之间观察到盲肠微生物群的显着差异，AMP 组微生物多样性和丰富度的平均值低于对照组。在门水平上， AMP 组的Verrucomicrobia和Cyanobacteria的相对丰度低于对照组。总之，结果表明日粮中添加 AMP 可以提高产蛋量并影响产蛋后期母鸡的盲肠微生物群落成员和结构。