The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of maternal parity on sow and offspring microbiomes, and the influence of parity on pig fecal microbiome and performance in response to a prebiotic post-weaning. Fecal and vaginal swabs were collected from 22 primiparous and 74 multiparous sows in a commercial farm at weaning. Fecal swabs were also collected from 48 randomly selected piglets (n = 24, from primiparous and multiparous sows respectively) at d 0, 21, and 42 post-weaning. At weaning, piglets were allotted into 3 dietary treatment groups: a standard nursery diet including pharmacological doses of Zn and Cu (CTRL), a group fed a commercial prebiotic only (PRE), and a group fed the prebiotic plus Zn and Cu (PRE+ZnCu). Extracted DNA was sequenced on the MiSeq platform targeting the V4 variable region of the 16S rRNA bacterial gene, and sequence data were analyzed using DADA2 plus various packages within the R statistical software. Although there were no differences in vaginal microbiome composition between primiparous and multiparous sows, fecal microbiome composition was different (PERMANOVA, R2 = 0.02, P = 0.03). The fecal microbiomes of primiparous offspring displayed significantly higher bacterial diversity compared with multiparous offspring at d0 and d21 (Shannon’s H, P < 0.01), with differences in community composition observed at d21 only (PERMANOVA, R2 = 0.03, P = 0.04). When analyzing the effects of maternal parity within each treatment, only the PRE diet showed significant compositional distinctions between primiparous and multiparous microbiomes (d21: PERMANOVA, R2 = 0.13, P = 0.01; d42: PERMANOVA, R2 = 0.19, P = 0.001). Compositional differences in pig fecal microbiomes between treatments, regardless of maternal parity, were observed only at d21 (PERMANOVA, R2 = 0.12, P = 0.001). No significant differences in growth performance between treatment groups were observed. These results indicate that maternal parity influences pig gut microbiomes post-weaning, and may influence the effects of dietary prebiotics on nursery pig microbiomes.
The objective of this study was to determine if cleanliness of the water delivery system influences growth performance of nursery pigs. Newly-weaned pigs (n = 315; about 21 d of age) were used in a 42-d experiment. Pigs were assigned randomly to 1 of 2 water line treatments with 17 to 18 pens/treatment and 9 pigs/pen. Treatments consisted of: 1) OLD water line: water delivered to pens via a water distribution system in use for 21 years without cleaning or 2) NEW water line: water delivered to pens via a water distribution system in use for 6 weeks. Water for both distribution systems was sourced from a common well. Pigs were housed in an environmentally controlled, power ventilated, confinement nursery barn and were allowed ad libitum access to water and common diets fed in 3 phases across water line treatments. Growth data were analyzed as a repeated measures design using PROC GLIMMIX procedure of SAS with water line as a fixed effect, room as a random effect, and pen as the experimental unit. There were no differences in body weight (P > 0.05) throughout the experiment for pigs drinking water from the OLD or NEW water line (Table). Pigs fed water from OLD lines consumed more feed than pigs consuming water from NEW lines but this difference did not influence ADG or G:F throughout the experiment. Mortality and total removals of pigs did not differ between treatments (P > 0.05). In conclusion, age and cleanliness of a water delivery system had minimal effects on growth performance of nursery pigs.
The gut microbiome, the collection of bacteria, fungi, virus and protozoa that inhabit the pig gastrointestinal tract, is promptly acquired at birth. During this seeding process, maternal and environmental microbial sources have a fundamental role, further modulated by nutritional and management interventions applied to both sow and piglet. Simultaneously, early microbiome seeding has significant impacts on the physiological landscape of the piglet gastrointestinal tract. In this talk, we will address the importance of diverse intrinsic and extrinsic factors, including nutrition, environment and sow physiology, in shaping early microbiome colonization and specific gut health traits in young pigs. Specifically, we propose that early microbiome development, including strategies for its manipulation, could potentially impact piglet survivability, immune function, pathogen susceptibility, digestion, absorption and overall well-being. We propose that, although some of these microbiome-mediated effects may be transient, others can be long lasting, possibly affecting health and productive performance along the life course. We propose that a microbiome lens could potentially contribute to better understanding health and performance in young pigs, by bridging basic and applied nutrition research.
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