Housing Systems Influence Gut Microbiota Composition of Sows but Not of Their Piglets

Abstract

Different housing systems can be used in pig production and little is known about their effect on gut microbiota composition. In this study we characterized fecal microbiota by sequencing the rRNA genes in sows kept during gestation in conventional pens with a slatted floor and in enriched pens with a floor covered with deep straw. After farrowing, microbiota of 1- and 4-day-old piglets were also monitored. Microbiota of sows from the enriched system contained significantly more Prevotella, Parabacteroides, CF231, Phascolarctobacterium, Fibrobacter, Anaerovibrio and YRC22 and significantly less Lactobacillus, Bulleidia, Lachnospira, Dorea, Ruminococcus and Oscillospira than microbiota of sows from the conventional system. The Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio was 0.96 in the microbiota of sows kept in the enriched pens and this increased to 1.66 in the microbiota of sows kept in the conventional system. The production system therefore influenced microbiota composition, most likely due the ingestion of the straw. The microbiota of 1- and 4-day-old piglets differed from the microbiota of sows and sows therefore did not represent the most important source for their colonization in early days of life.

How Can We Define “Optimal Microbiota?”: A Comparative Review of Structure and Functions of Microbiota of Animals, Fish, and Plants in Agriculture

“…Confinement such as indoor breeding and aquaculture has been reported to affect microbiota of animals and fish to various extents. There is no clear evidence on how housing systems (indoor vs. outdoor) can affect microbiota of animals, since previously reported changes in gut microbiota in response to different housing methods can be better explained by dietary changes ( 195 , 196 ). As intestinal tracts of fish are constantly exposed to water and a large number of microorganisms in their surroundings, it is not surprising that the conditions of aquaculture such as water quality (e.g., salinity) and external microbial community significantly affect gut microbiota of fish ( 197 – 199 ).…”

Composition and Function of Chicken Gut Microbiota

“…In vitro culturomics indicates that chicken Prevotellaceae are specialised in the digestion of complex polysaccharides [29], consistent with the fact that in humans Prevotellaceae are enriched in gut microbiota of humans from rural parts of Africa [41,42]. Prevotellaceae also dominate in the microbiota of adult pigs in which feed enriched for vegetable fiber is common [43][44][45].…”

“…This is due to the intestinal tract having a constant temperature between 37-42 • C, continuous nutrient supply and anaerobic environment. This is why Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes similarly dominate in human, pig and chicken gut microbiota [4,43,45,[53][54][55]. In these warm-blooded species, the dominant bacterial phyla such as Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes and minority phyla such as Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria are similarly reported.…”

The Effects of Captivity on the Mammalian Gut Microbiome

“…2013). In agricultural pig raising facilities, changes in relative abundance of Prevotella , CF231, Ruminococcus , Oscillospira , and Lactobacillus have been observed in stool samples from sows that differed only in their housing, specifically with and without straw on pen floors ( Kubasova etal. 2017 ).…”