Is the Microbiome the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.

The microbial population of the gastrointestinal tract has been studied extensively for many years. The symbiotic relationship between the host animal and the native microbes has been relatively well characterized, given the technical limitations. Next Generation Sequencing techniques have proliferated and have become affordable for researchers, companies, and even individual producers. This reduction of barriers to utilization of NGS techniques has introduced many incorrect conclusions based on population estimates that do not include the estimates of microbial biochemical activities, and ecological niches. As a result, there are many descriptions of products that will make the microbiome "good" for all production situations and diets. Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet that makes a microbiome a universally "good" microbiome. This presentation will discuss how developments in understanding the microbial of the gut has expanded our view of the gut microbial ecology, and how it can be used to improve our understanding of the impacts of the microbiome on animal performance and health. Discussions of how microbiome analyses have been used and misused will be included. Being able to detect small changes in the microbial population of the gut is critical and can elucidate methods to improve animal productivity and protein food production sustainability. This presentation will also discuss challenges facing the animal industry as precision agriculture becomes increasingly important to animal nutrition and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]