Development of the Intestinal RNA Virus Community of Healthy Broiler Chickens

Several RNA viruses such as astrovirus, rotavirus, reovirus and parvovirus have been detected in both healthy and diseased commercial poultry flocks. The aim of this study was to characterize (a) the development of the RNA viral community in the small intestines of healthy broiler chickens from hatch through 6 weeks of age (market age) and (b) the contribution of the breeder source vs. bird age in development of the community structure. Intestinal tissue samples were harvested from breeders and their progeny, processed for viral RNA extraction and sequenced using Illumina Hiseq sequencing technology resulting in 100 bp PE reads. The results from this study indicated that the breeder source influenced the RNA viral community only at hatch but later environment i.e. bird age had the more significant effect. The most abundant RNA viral family detected at 2, 4 and 6 weeks of age was Astroviridae, which decreased in abundance with age while the abundance of Picornaviridae increased with age.