Longitudinal development of the gut microbiota in healthy and diarrheic piglets induced by age‐related dietary changes

Abstract

Diarrhea is one of the most common enteric diseases in young piglets. Diverse factors such as an unstable gut microenvironment, immature intestinal immune system, early supplementary feeding, and weaning often induce dysfunction of gut microbiota, thus leading to a continuing high incidence of diarrhea in piglets. However, few studies have characterized the gut microbiota of diarrheic piglets following changes in diet and during the development of intestinal physiology. In this study, we used 16S rRNA gene sequencing to analyze the dynamic establishment of fecal microbiota in six healthy piglets in response to age‐related changes in the diet: sow‐reared, early supplementary creep‐feeding (sow‐reared + starter diet), and weaning (solid nursery diet). We compared the gut microbiota of these six healthy piglets with those of diarrheic piglets during each of the three dietary stages (n = 10 sow‐reared, n = 10 early supplementary creep‐feeding, and n = 5 weaning). We found that weaning (solid nursery feeding) was the primary factor leading to dynamic colonization by microbiota in healthy piglets, and diarrhea primarily affected the microbial communities of piglets before weaning. Healthy piglets showed a continuous decrease in Lactobacillus and Escherichia, as well as a gradual increase in Prevotella with the transition to solid food. An altered relationship between Prevotella and Escherichia may be the main cause of diarrhea in preweaned piglets, whereas reduced numbers of Bacteroides, Ruminococcus, Bulleidia, and Treponema that are responsible for the digestion and utilization of solid feeds may be related to the onset of postweaning piglet diarrhea. The Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt) functional analysis indicated that a reduction in genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism induced by intestinal dysbacteriosis in diarrheic piglets was one of the major causes of diarrhea at the three dietary stages. These findings provide insights into developing an intervention strategy for better management of diarrhea in piglets.

Effects of Tributyrin Supplementation on Growth Performance, Insulin, Blood Metabolites and Gut Microbiota in Weaned Piglets

“…It is important to underline that the reduction, although significant, does not correspond to a dramatic drop in the content of both lactobacilli and bifidobacteria. Overall, for the Lactobacillus genus it seems that tributyrin has highlighted its gradual reduction that normally occurs in the weaning period [77] and for this reason, we take into consideration this modification as a signal that supplementation implies a gut microbiota modification.…”

Early-Life Intervention Using Fecal Microbiota Combined with Probiotics Promotes Gut Microbiota Maturation, Regulates Immune System Development, and Alleviates Weaning Stress in Piglets

“…The immune system of newborn animals is generally considered to be immature, which is closely related to a series of early diseases [1][2][3][4]. For instance, the immaturity of the intestinal immune system is regarded as one of the most important reasons for early-life diarrhea and early-weaning stress in mammals [5], and it has been confirmed that the development and maturation of the mammal intestinal immune system occur in infancy, even in the fetal period [6][7][8].…”

Probiotics Mediated Gut Microbiota Diversity Shifts Are Associated With Reduction in Histopathology and Shedding of Lawsonia Intracellularis

“…It is di cult to compare the core genera across studies. Besides age, commonly studies are done in pigs around weaning [41,42], housing and diet may also impact core genera. Moreover, it has been recently determined that when de ning the core microbiome in pigs, differences in study protocols have a signi cant impact and standardization of experimental techniques appear to be important [43].…”