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. 2025 Jul 1;15(1):22403.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-04942-0.

Fecal microbiota transplantation improves Sansui duck growth performance by balancing the cecal microbiome

Yong Yue  1   2   3   4 , Bingnong Yao  1   2 , Fuyou Liao  1   2 , Zhiqiang He  1   2 , Papungkorn Sangsawad  3   4 , Shenglin Yang  5   6   7
Affiliations

Fecal microbiota transplantation improves Sansui duck growth performance by balancing the cecal microbiome

Yong Yue et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Improving growth performance is vital in poultry production. Although several studies have established associations between gut microbiota and growth, the direct impacts remain unclear. A total of 120 1-day-old Sansui ducks were randomly assigned to the FMT and CON groups. From the 1st day, ducks in the FMT group were orally administrated with 0.5 mL fecal microbiota suspension for three consecutive days, while sterile PBS solution was used as a substitute in the CON group. The results revealed that FMT improved average daily gain (ADG) (P < 0.001) and body weight (BW) (P < 0.001), with a tendency for a better feed conversion rate (FCR) (P = 0.062). LEfSe analysis indicated a significant increase in the abundance of the Lactobacillus (P < 0.001), Bifidobacterium (P = 0.006), Megamonas (P = 0.008), and Subdoligranulum (P = 0.005) in the FMT group. Similarly, the phyla Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio was higher in the FMT group compared to the CON group. Additionally, the ACE, Chao, and Shannon indices were also significantly higher in the FMT group (P < 0.001). To sum up, FMT enhanced growth performance, which could be associated with reducing proinflammatory pathogen colonization in the duck cecum. This modulating effect likely results from increased microbial diversity and the enrichment of beneficial bacteria.

Keywords: Cecal microbiota; Fecal microbiota transplantation; Growth performance; Sansui ducks.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical approval: This experiment was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Guizhou University (No. EAE-GZU-2020-E012). We confirm that all methods were performed under relevant guidelines and regulations. Additionally, we confirm that we have fully complied with the latest version of the ARRIVE guidelines in this study.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Effects of FMT on the growth performance in Sansui ducks. (a) Average daily gain from 1 to 14 days, (b) Average daily gain from 15 to 28 days, (c) Body weight from 1 to 14 days (d) Body weight from 15 to 28 days, (e) Feed conversion rate from 1 to 28 days. Abbreviations: ADG = Average daily gain, BW = Body weight, FCR = Feed conversion rate. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
FMT changes the composition of the cecal microbiota. (a) The phyla were in the top 5 abundance and average abundance, (b) Relative abundance of genus (c) Principal component analysis in FMT and CON groups. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
FMT alters the alpha diversity of the cecal microbiota and enriches specific bacterial populations. (a) Alpha diversity analysis of cecal microbiota, including ACE, Chao, and Shannon indices, (b) Differential analysis of core microbial genera in cucum, (c,d) The taxonomic cladogram obtained by linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Correlations between cecal microbiota and average daily gain in ducks. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.
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