Synecological analysis of the microbiocenosys of large poultry farms

Synecological analysis of data obtained from studies of the gut microbiota in chickens and personnel of large scale poultry farms using classical species diversity indices and multidimensional statistics showed the similarity of the microbiota in hens and personnel of poultry farms and revealed 12 common species on the poultry farm A and 11 common species on the poultry farm B. Statistically significant differences in species diversity of symbiotic microorganisms in hens were found on various poultry farms. The value of the Koch index was 0.51.The relatively low level of similarity in the species composition of the microbiota in hens can be explained by poultry management systems (i.e. poultry farms A and B - floor keeping, poultry farm C - cage keeping). Moreover, a poultry farm represents a “closed” system in which the birds are their entire life cycle. At the same time similar differences were not revealed among employees of poultry farms A and B, where a high level of similarity of species composition (Jaccard similarity coefficient - 0,71) was noted due to the fact that the composition of the human gut microbiota (microbiota core) is relatively stable despite the impact of environmental factors (i.e. climate, nutrition etc.). A noteworthy fact is that on all three farms Salmonella enteritidis strains have been circulating among birds while these microorganisms were not identified in the microbiota of employees of these farms. Thus, it can be assumed that people do not become infected through direct contact with poultry, but through poultry products from farms.