Abstract: In order to further explore the effective utilization of Oleum cinnamomi,based on the previous studies,the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary addition of 300 mg/kg coated Oleum cinnamomi on microbial diversity and composition in the ileum of broiler chickens.Single factor experimental design was employed and a total of 132 one-day-old Cobb 500 broiler chickens were randomly assigned into control and experimental groups,respectively.There were 6 replicates in each group with 11 chickens (5 males and 6 females) in each replicate.The chickens in control group were fed the basal diet and the ones in experimental group were fed basal diet supplemented with 300 mg/kg of coated Oleum cinnamomi.The trail lasted for 21 d.The results showed that:Dietary addition of 300 mg/kg of coated Oleum cinnamomi did not affect growth performance (P>0.05).Compared with the control group,experimental group significantly increased Shannon and Sobs indices and significantly decreased the Simpson index (P<0.05).There were 133 shared OTUs in the ileal microflora of both control and experimental groups,4 unique OTUs in the control group,and 135 unique OTUs in the experimental group.The ANOSIM analysis showed that the inter-group difference of ileal microbiota composition was higher than that of intra-group (P<0.05).The relative abundance of Streptococcus spp.in the ileum of chickens in experimental group was lower than that in the control group (P<0.05).There was no significant difference in ileal abundance of other genus between two groups (P>0.05).In summary,dietary addition of 300 mg/kg of coated Oleum cinnamomi increased the microbial diversity,and reduced the relative abundance of Streptococcus spp.in the ileum of broiler chickens at 21 days of age.

Key words: coated Oleum cinnamomi; broiler chickens; ileum; microbiome