Longitudinal microbiome profiling reveals impermanence of probiotic bacteria in domestic pigeons

Probiotics are bacterial species or assemblages that are applied to animals and plants with the intention of altering the microbiome in a beneficial way. Probiotics have been linked to positive health effects such as faster disease recovery times in humans and increased weight gain in poultry. Pigeon fanciers often feed their show pigeons probiotics with the intention of increasing flight performance. The objective of our study was to determine the effect of two different probiotics, alone and in combination, on the fecal microbiome of Birmingham Roller pigeons. We sequenced fecal samples from 20 pigeons divided into three probiotic treatments, including prior to, during, and after treatment. Pre-treatment and control group samples were dominated by Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Cyanobacteria. Administration of a probiotic pellet containing Enterococcus faecium and Lactobacillus acidophilus resulted in increase in average relative abundance of Lactobacillus spp. from 4.7 ± 2.0% to 93.0 ± 5.3%. No significant effects of Enterococcus spp. were detected. Probiotic-induced shifts in the microbiome composition were temporary and disappeared within 2 days of probiotic cessation. Administration of a probiotic powder in drinking water that contained Enterococcus faecium and three Lactobacillus species had minimal effect on the microbiome. We conclude that supplementing Birmingham roller pigeons with the probiotic pellets, but not the probiotic powder, temporarily changed the microbiome composition. A next step is to experimentally test the effect of these changes in microbiome composition on host health and physical performance.