Intestinal nutrition: role of vitamins and biofactors and gaps of knowledge

The role of the microbiota in the health of the host is complex and multifactorial. The microbiota both consumes nutrients in competition with the host, but also creates nutrients that can be used by other microbes, but also the host. However, the quantitative impact of the microbiota on nutrient supply and demand is not well understood in poultry. The gastrointestinal tract is one of the largest points of contact with the external environment, and the intestinal microbiome is the largest and most complex of any system. Although the intestinal microbiota has first access to consumed nutrients, including vitamins, and is potentially a major contributor to production of various vitamins, the quantification of these impacts remains very poorly understood in poultry. Based on the human literature, it is clear that vitamin deficiencies can have systemic effects on the regulation of many physiological systems, beyond the immediate, direct nutrient functions of the vitamins. The impact of excessive supplementation of vitamins on the microbiota is not well understood in any species. In the context of poultry nutrition, in which substantial dietary excesses of most vitamins are provided, this represents a knowledge gap. Given the paucity of studies investigating the vitamin requirements of modern, high-producing poultry, the limited understanding of vitamin nutrition (supply and utilization) by the microbiome, and the potential impacts on the microbiome of the move away from dietary growth-promoting antibiotic use, more research in this area is required. The microbiota also contributes a vast array of other metabolites involved in intramicrobiota communication, symbiosis and competition that can also have an impact on the host. Myo-inositol and butyrate are briefly discussed as examples of biofactors produced by the microbiota as mediators of intestinal health.