Differences in Gut Microbial and Serum Biochemical Indices Between Sows With Different Productive Capacities During Perinatal Period

Abstract

YS specially thanks XX for her support and guidance. YS acknowledges JZ and Ming Qi for their help in various aspects.

Comparison of Productivity and Fecal Microbiotas of Sows in Commercial Farms

“…To maintain a stable management of swine farms, the reproductive performance of sows needs to be taken into consideration. Recently, Shao et al [ 16 ] suggested that the microbial populations in the gut were clearly affected by the reproductive performance of sows in a single farm. Shao et al [ 16 ] divided their sows into high-reproductive and low-reproductive groups according to their litter sizes, while in the present work, we used the parameter “number of weaned pigs per sow per year” to define sow productivity and hence divide the farms.…”

“…Recently, Shao et al [ 16 ] suggested that the microbial populations in the gut were clearly affected by the reproductive performance of sows in a single farm. Shao et al [ 16 ] divided their sows into high-reproductive and low-reproductive groups according to their litter sizes, while in the present work, we used the parameter “number of weaned pigs per sow per year” to define sow productivity and hence divide the farms. We confirmed this parameter properly correlated with the other reproductive parameters ( p < 0.05, Table 2 ), and therefore, was robust enough to evaluate the reproductive performance of sows in a farm.…”

“…While differences were clearly obtained by the β-diversity analysis ( Figure 2 ), based on both unweighted and weighted UniFrac distances, no differences were found for the α-diversity in the experimental groups ( Figure 1 ). According to Shao et al [ 16 ], not only β-diversity but also α-diversity differed between high- and low-performance sows. Therefore, there seemed to be a discrepancy between the α-diversity index in the present study and that of Shao et al [ 16 ].…”

“…According to Shao et al [ 16 ], not only β-diversity but also α-diversity differed between high- and low-performance sows. Therefore, there seemed to be a discrepancy between the α-diversity index in the present study and that of Shao et al [ 16 ]. When we compared the α-diversity index of the farms studied in the present work, Chao1 and Shannon indices differed, regardless of the reproductive performance ( Figure S1 ).…”

“…This evidence seems to suggest that the gut microbiotas in growing pigs are associated with their growth performance by promoting healthy intestinal environments. In addition, previous studies showed that status of the gut microbiotas of sows is associated with their reproductive performance [ 16 , 17 ]. However, those studies were carried out in one single farm, focusing solely on finding differences in the productive performance of individual pigs, not between pig farms.…”