Search

Subclinical doses of antimicrobials are commonly used in the swine industry to control infectious diseases and growth performance. Accumulating evidence suggests that swine administered with antibiotics are susceptible to disease development due to disruption of the beneficial gut microbial community, which is associated with host immune regulation, nutrient digestion, and colonization resistance against pathogens. In this study, we found that finishing swine administered with lincomycin showed gut dysbiosis and increased diarrhea incidence compared with control swine. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was used to analyze the gut microbiota in finishing swine administered with lincomycin. The relative abundance of detrimental microbes, such as species of Clostridium, Aerococcus, Escherichia-Shigella, and Corynebacterium was increased in the feces of lincomycin-administered finishing swine, but that of bacteria associated with fiber degradation, such as species of Treponema, Succinivibrio, Fibrobacter, and Cellulosilyticum was decreased. Moreover, administration of lincomycin significantly increased the enrichment of metabolic pathways related to pathogenicity and deficiency of polysaccharide degradation. These results suggest that lincomycin treatment could cause severe disruption of the commensal microbiota in finishing swine.

Abstract The gut microbiome has long been known to play fundamentally important roles in the animal health and the well-being of its host. As such, the establishment and maintenance of a beneficial gut microbiota early in life is crucial in pigs, since early gut colonizers are pivotal in the establishment of permanent microbial community structures affecting the health and growth performance of pigs later in life. Emphasizing this importance of early gut colonizers, it is critical to understand the factors impacting the establishment of the piglet gut microbiome at weaning. Factors include, among others, diet, in-feed antibiotics, probiotics and prebiotic administration. The impact of these factors on establishment of the gut microbiome of piglets at weaning includes effects on piglet gut microbial diversity, structure, and succession. In this review, we thoroughly reviewed the most recent findings on the piglet gut microbiome shifts as influenced by weaning, and how these microbiome changes brought about by various factors that have been shown to affect the development of microbiota in piglets. This review will provide a general overview of recent studies that can help to facilitate the design of new strategies to modulate the gut microbiome in order to enhance gastrointestinal health, growth performance and well-being of piglets.

Objective O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) transferase (OGT) catalyzes the addition of O-GlcNAc and GlcNAcylation has extensive crosstalk with phosphorylation to regulate signaling and transcription. Pig OGT is located near the region of chromosome X that affects follicle stimulating hormone level and testes size. The objective of this study was to find the variations of OGT between European and Chinese pigs. Methods Pigs were tested initially for polymorphism in OGT among European and Chinese pigs by polymerase chain reaction and sequencing at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC). The polymorphism was also determined in an independent population of pigs including European and Chinese Meishan (ME) breeds at the National Institute of Animal Science (NIAS, RDA, Korea). Results The intron 20 of OGT from European and Chinese pigs was 514 and 233 bp, respectively, in the pigs tested initially. They included 1 White composite (WC) boar and 7 sows (2 Minzu×WC, 2 Duroc [DU]×WC, 2 ME×WC, 1 Fengzing×WC) at USMARC. The 281-bp difference was due to an inserted 276-bp element and GACTT in European pigs. When additional WC and ME boars, the grandparents that were used to generate the 1/2ME×1/2WC parents, and the 84 boars of 16 litters from mating of 1/2ME×1/2WC parents were analyzed, the breeds of origin of X chromosome quantitative trait locus (QTL) were confirmed. The polymorphism was determined in an independent population of pigs including DU, Landrace, Yorkshire, and ME breeds at NIAS. OGT was placed at position 67 cM on the chromosome X of the USMARC swine linkage map. Conclusion There was complete concordance with the insertion in European pigs at USMARC and NIAS. This polymorphism could be a useful marker to identify the breed of origin of X chromosome QTL in pigs produced by crossbreeding Chinese and European pigs.

This study investigated the effects of addition of Italian ryegrass with multi-enzyme on growth performance, fecal odor, and microbiome. The experiment had a two-factor factorial design, using three levels of Italian ryegrass (0%, 2.5%, and 5%) and two levels of multi-enzymes (no enzyme and commercially recommended level) to formulate experimental diets. In total, 60 crossbred Landrace × Yorkshire × Duroc (LYD) pigs (88.35 ± 2.57 kg) were allocated into six dietary treatments with five replicates. After four weeks, fecal samples were collected via rectal massage for microbiome and odorous compound analysis. Results showed no significant difference (p > 0.05) in growth performance, except for feed intake (p < 0.05), which was higher in enzyme-added diets. Fecal microbiome exhibited no differences (p > 0.05) between treatments, with Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes being the major phyla, similar to the general pig population. Alpha and beta diversity analyses showed no significant differences (p > 0.05). Odorous compounds displayed no significant differences (p > 0.05), except for indoles (p < 0.05) influenced by the enzyme. In conclusion, 5% Italian ryegrass with multi-enzymes can be used as an alternative feed ingredient, having no negative effects on the growth performance, microbiome, and odorous compounds of growing pigs.