Disturbances in intestinal health are a common problem affecting commercial broiler chickens worldwide. Several studies have revealed associations between health, production performance, and intestinal microbiota. This study aimed to describe the development of the intestinal microbiota of broilers within a production cycle to evaluate to what extent clinical parameters and phenotypic characteristics can explain the intestinal microbiota variation. Of four well‐performing flocks within two farms, the cecal content was collected of nine broilers at 0, 2, 4, or 5, 7, 11, or 12, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 40 days of the production cycle. In total, 342 samples were analyzed using 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicon sequencing. Variables as macroscopic gut abnormalities, gut lesions, age, individual body weight, sex, footpad integrity, the color of ceca, and foam in cecal content were determined. Ileum tissue was collected for histological quantification of villus length and crypt depth. Flock infection levels of the intestinal disease coccidiosis were measured in pooled feces from the poultry house. Increases in phylogenetic diversity were observed from hatch until day 21 of age. Constrained multivariate analysis indicated that age, farm, body weight, ileum crypt depth, cecal color, and the coccidiosis lesion score were important variables to describe the variation in cecal microbiota. These results contribute to determining relevant variables in flocks that may be indicative of the intestinal microbiota composition. Moreover, this knowledge increases the awareness of interactions between the intestinal microbiota and broiler health as well as their relative importance.

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肉鸡的表型特征和临床参数与整个生产周期中肠道微生物发育之间的关联：现场研究

肠道健康紊乱是影响全球商品肉鸡的常见问题。多项研究揭示了健康、生产性能和肠道微生物群之间的关联。本研究旨在描述肉鸡在一个生产周期内肠道微生物群的发展，以评估临床参数和表型特征在多大程度上可以解释肠道微生物群的变异。在两个农场的四只表现良好的鸡群中，在生产周期的第 0、2、4 或 5、7、11 或 12、14、21、28、35 和 40 天收集了九只肉鸡的盲肠含量. 总共使用 16S 核糖体 RNA 基因扩增子测序分析了 342 个样本。变量如宏观肠道异常、肠道病变、年龄、个体体重、性别、足垫完整性、盲肠颜色、并测定盲肠中的泡沫。收集回肠组织用于绒毛长度和隐窝深度的组织学量化。肠道疾病球虫病的鸡群感染水平在来自禽舍的粪便中进行了测量。从孵化到第 21 天，观察到系统发育多样性的增加。受约束的多变量分析表明，年龄、农场、体重、回肠隐窝深度、盲肠颜色和球虫病灶评分是描述盲肠微生物群变化的重要变量。这些结果有助于确定鸡群中可能指示肠道微生物群组成的相关变量。此外，这些知识提高了对肠道微生物群与肉鸡健康之间相互作用及其相对重要性的认识。