Gut microbiota and growth performance of offspring are influenced by wet nurse in pigs using cross‐fostering trial

Abstract

BACKGROUND Nursing mom can regulate the gut microbiome succession in offspring. However, it remains unclear whether these effects are long‐term and what effect it has on the growth performance of piglets. This study aimed to develop a cross‐fostering model of piglets and investigate the effect of maternal environment on gut microbiota, even the growth performance of the offspring, and if this effect could be maintained in the long term. RESULTS Four groups of piglets were generated as follows (n = 12): Duroc piglets nursed by their birth mom (Dd) or Yorkshire sows (Yd), Yorkshire piglets nursed by Duroc sows (Dy) or their birth mom (Yy). The study found that cross‐fostering improved the growth performance of piglets for a long time. The gut microbiota of piglets was mainly determined by the breeds of nursing moms before weaning, and it was more and more influenced by their breeds after weaning, but the influence of birth mom breeds still existed. The linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe) analysis and Spearman correlation analysis showed that Sutterella, Butyricimonas and Alistipes, which were affected by nursing mom before weaning, had a strong positive correlation with the growth performance of piglets before weaning. Candidatus_Soleaferrea and Treponema, which were affected by both nursing mom and piglet breed after weaning, were significantly negatively correlated with the growth performance of piglets long after weaning. CONCLUSION Our results revealed that both the breeds of piglets and their birth moms influence the gut microbiota of piglets for a long time, even after weaning. Additionally, this effect might be related to the growth performance of piglets. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

An experimental approach towards untangling the role of nature versus nurture in shaping the microbiome of social insects

“…This is especially important when testing the effect of the host genome on the microbiome across species, for example, by employing cross-fostering experiments. To date, such manipulations have been carried out across populations of the same species [24][25][26][27] . Given that in social insects the gut environment and its symbionts play a significant role in nestmate recognition [28][29][30] , colony labor division 31,32 and maintained sociality 28,[33][34][35] , it is reasonable to assume that the host-microbiome relationship is an important evolutionary feature that can attest to its relevance on a wider scale.…”