Alterations in Ileal Mucosa Bacteria Related to Diet Complexity and Growth Performance in Young Pigs

Abstract

BackgroundEvaluation of the prolonged impact of weaning diet on ileal mucosa bacteria and during periods of reduced and improved growth was conducted using 454 pyrosequencing.Methodology/Principal FindingsWeaned pigs were fed HIGH or LOW complexity diets, with or without antibiotics, for 6 weeks, followed by a common grower diet. Pigs were killed at 2 (n = 4 or 5) and 8 (n = 6) weeks post-weaning (periods of reduced and improved growth, respectively). Mucosal bacteria were removed; DNA was extracted and amplified using the V1–V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene. Mucosal bacteria clustered more closely by week post-weaning than diet but 44% of bacterial species did not change from week 2 to 8. There was no effect of diet complexity or antibiotic inclusion on indices of bacterial diversity. Firmicutes made up 91 and 96% of total reads at week 2 and 8, respectively. The proportion of Clostridium paraputrificum increased (P = 0.003) from week 2 to 8 in pigs fed LOW but didn’t change in pigs fed HIGH; whereas Clostridium leptum decreased (P = 0.02) from week 2 to 8 in pigs fed LOW but didn’t change in pigs fed HIGH. The proportion of Sarcina genus was 3-fold higher in pigs fed A+ compared to A− at week 2 and 5-fold higher at week 8 despite the lack of in-feed antibiotics at that time.Conclusions/SignificanceShifts in mucosal bacteria populations may be related to dietary induced changes in growth performance during reduced and improved growth but further studies are required to confirm causative relationship. Weaning diet results in species specific prolonged alterations in mucosal bacteria, particularly where high levels of in-feed antibiotics are used. A considerable portion of ileal mucosal bacteria colonize early and remain stable over time despite changes in diet.

In a Neonatal Piglet Model of Intestinal Failure, Administration of Antibiotics and Lack of Enteral Nutrition Have a Greater Impact on Intestinal Microflora Than Surgical Resection Alone

“…The phyla profile in sow‐fed piglets in this study is similar to that reported in previous studies evaluating healthy pig gut microflora 12 , 24 . Similarly, the increase in the relative proportion of Proteobacteria following some form of intestinal stress has also been reported 27 …”

“…One of the primary limitations of this study in relation to alterations in intestinal microflora was the short study duration because the microflora continue to adjust and adapt over time, particularly in the very young. A stable microflora may not be established prior to 14 days following an intestinal upset or change in dietary supply, 24 , 32 , 33 and thus longer term studies are required. The JC model more closely reflects the anatomical features in infants with SBS and thus was included in this study; however, it is difficult to maintain JC model piglets in a relative “healthy” state for long‐term studies.…”

“…All surgery pigs were implanted with a jugular catheter for provision of parenteral nutrition (PN) for 7 days following surgery, providing 15 g/kg/d amino acids, 27 g/kg/d glucose, and 9.4 g/kg/d lipid. Levels of macronutrients and micronutrients contained in the PN were based on sow milk content and previous data demonstrating adequate piglet growth over 1 week compared with sow‐reared controls 24 . All were given a prophylactic daily regimen of antibiotics, ampicillin sodium (10 mg/kg; Novopharm Ltd, Toronto, Ontario, Canada), and trimethoprim‐sulfadoxine (0.5 mL; Borgal; Intervet Canada Ltd, Whitby, Ontario, Canada) for days 0–4 to prevent line sepsis.…”

Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus Infection Induced the Unbalance of Gut Microbiota in Piglets

“…2). Matched with previous studies related to microbial diversity in pigs, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria were the main ubiquitous members in pig intestinal tract and were not easily affected by other factors such as host genotype, disease, and diet [10,13].…”

“…Extracted DNA was quantified by the NanoDrop spectrophotometer (Thermo scientific). The V5-V6 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA was PCR amplified from microbiome genomic DNA with sample-specific sequence barcoded fusion primers [13] (forward 5 0 AYTGGGYDT AAAGNG3 0 , reverse 5 0 TACNVGGGTATCTAATCC3 0 ). The PCR program used was at 94°C for 5 min; 30 cycles of 94°C for 30 s, 55°C for 30 s, and 72°C for 30 s; followed by 72°C for 7 min and ended with 4°C.…”